Whom Should We Believe?

We all believe in something or someone? Some believe in horoscopes, others in psychic predictions...feng shui, tarot cards, magic tattoos, amulets or anting-anting, scapulars, images and statues...and the power of the saints. Who do you believe?

Why is it hard for many to believe in God alone? Why do people entrust their unknown future into the hands of the created instead of the Creator?

It is important to know who your God is...who do you trust? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31) . He is God who became flesh (John 1:1 and 14), lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), died for our sins (1 Peter 1:18), rose again to triumph over death (Luke 24:5-7), and promised to return to bring us into His eternal kingdom in heaven (John 14:2-3).

I am intimately acquainted with Whom I have believed...not just know Him by reading His Word but His Word lives in me. "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" (Psalm 34:8). There is a big difference between "knowing" and "experiencing" His presence and favor each day of your life. Everyone knows what an apple looks like but you have to taste it to know how sweet it is to your palate.

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16)...He is the Anointed One, The Messiah (Savior). He is Royalty and has a unique relationship with God, the Father, as His only begotten Son. We were buried with Him in baptism, but were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12). We were dead thru sins but He has made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us our trespasses (Colossians 2:13). "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all pincipality and power." (Colossians 2:9).

Whom shall you be afraid? "For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isaiah 52:12). He will go before you taking care of everything before you even arrive at your destination, and will go after you as your rear guard making sure that you are safe always. Entrust your spouse and your children unto the Lord. As Paul declared in 2 Timothy 1:12, "...for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."

There will be tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, dangers lurking from everywhere around us but "...we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). The only thing required of us is: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment; And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40).

There is, however, a protocol in approaching God: "...he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Doubt is a sin "...for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 6-8). You should love Him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength...not halfheartedly or undecisively because if you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, He will spew you out of His mouth (Rev. 3:15).