A Backup

To affirm "I believe in God" is to speak of a willful decision made not only in the past, but one which is continually made.   We are not born with belief in Him within us, it is something we must choose.  To speak of it being a willful decision may seem to isolate it in the past, but instead, it is a choice which has forever consequences in terms of our lifestyle.  When we decide to believe in God, we are no longer the same.  A change has been made.  Before choosing to believe in God, we lived as a person who believed in self, or some other person, or some thing peculiar to appeasing our ego.

 

Perhaps, this is why Jesus preached a message of repentance.  We cannot truly live as one who believes in God without repentance.  To declare belief in God screams in the face of everything that was a part of our life prior to the moment of choosing to depend on God.  As we seek to understand what believing in God is all about, that word "depend" truly seems to be an appropriate word.  We depend on God not as one who has a hand out ready for some spiritual handout, but as one who understands that God is the One who gives life, sustains life, and provides all that is necessary for the living we do.  It is in this sense that we depend on God.

 

Prior to believing in Him, we depended on ourselves.  And even after we choose belief in God as a lifestyle, it is a struggle as we often end up trying to do the thing the ancient Hebrews did as they worshiped Baal and Yahweh.  When they worshipped Baal, they did not throw Yahweh away.  They just kept Baal around in case Yahweh did not deliver on giving them what they thought they needed.  So are we tempted to live.  We say, "I believe in God," but we often end up as if we believe first in ourselves to provide and keep God around as backup in case things do not work out.