Belief

22 Mar

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:
the one who will accuse you is Moses,
in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses,
you would have believed me,
because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?  (Jn 5:45-47)

Jesus had a lot of problems with people not believing in Him.

Many did not believe in Him because they expected a different kind of Messiah.  Others did not believe in Him because of the people with whom He associated.  Still others did not believe because He came from the wrong area.

Truth be told, most of the “excuses” for not believing in Jesus were just plain ol’ lame.

Additionally — and, again, truth be told — the excuses for not believing in the Lord today are just as lame.

After all, how many times have you heard someone say, “I no longer believe because when I asked God for ______, it never happened.”

Yep.

People expect God to conform His will to ours.

But, that is not how it is supposed to work.

We are the ones who should be conforming our wills to that of God’s.

It is not going to happen, though, if we persist in our unbelief.

We have to quit “testing” God.  We have to quit blaming God.  We have to quit ignoring God.  We have to quit putting ourselves first, everyone else second, and God a distant last.

Jesus indicated over and over again that His works were supplying all the testimony that He needed.  People were either going to believe or not believe.

However, He also indicated that people’s choices would come with consequences.  Believe and follow the Lord and you can hope to do well, eternally so.  Reject Jesus and the consequences would be much more dire, as in condemnation.

God has done so much for us in our lives.  God has spoken to us often in our lives as well.  He has sent many people into our lives to give us the message(s) that we need to hear.

What say you?

Shall we believe today?

Or persist in our doubt?

FAITH ACTION:  “If you do not believe his [Moses’] writings, how will you believe my words?”  We are a skeptical people.  We tend not to trust others, including God.  We often dismiss His words.  Take some time today reading a favorite book of the Bible.  If you have no favorite, read and reflect upon Mt 5:1-12.