Jesus Has Some Questions… About Thinking

Belief
We all go through our lives believing certain things. Some of these things are given no real thought such as I believe that there will be air to breathe today and I believe that gravity will keep me from floating off into outer space. When I make those statements it is easy to see how we operate with a belief system that doesn’t even require any real sense of processing.
 
There is another level of belief that for me is almost as foundational and for which I am so thankful. I believe my family and friends will love me. They will want what is best for me and I can count on them if I need them. Now, as confident as I am about this in a broad sense, I have lived long enough to see that it is not as universally true as I wish it were. There are people that have turned from me or failed me in various ways. I have to admit I have failed people too during my life.
 
A final area of belief that I want to mention has to do with what I will call “developed beliefs.” As I go through the days of my life there are things that I come to believe due to evidence of one form or another. Some of these beliefs have to do with the way systems work such as how to be a good parent or how to manage people for effective productivity. In areas like this I always find myself processing new information, evidence and concepts while at the same time reconsidering my past observations. I am learning as I go and I find the need to modify some of my beliefs.
 
With this as my backdrop I bring you to a “set in stone belief”; a belief as it encounters the eternal things in our world. There are only a few eternal things: God, the Word of God and humanity [that is, our souls and not our bodies which will die]. With that in mind, we are invited to have eternal rock-solid beliefs in God and His ways regarding us. What do you believe regarding God? This Sunday we will be joining together in the Lord’s Supper and declaring what we believe as expressed in the Apostle’s Creed. I invite you to read it below and claim it for your day – it is really, really good stuff!
 
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
 
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the death; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
 
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen
 
To believe this is to believe that God is interested in you and He has given you all you need to live forever with Him. When we declare our belief as articulated in the above creed, we are confident that our lives matter today as we serve our God and this world.
 
We Believe,
Pastor Nick