Why isn't it easy to believe in Jesus Christ? If it were easy, there would be more people who believe. For those of us who believe, it is hard to comprehend why others don't believe. Believers believe they are absolutely hopeless without Jesus.
Perhaps that’s the catch. Our human nature will do anything to believe that it is up to us. John Ascroft's infamous quote, “Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you.” Does make you wonder why someone would reject Christianity.
It’s easy to believe in yourself and your own abilities; it is much more difficult to believe that the God of the universe has done it all for you. If you truly believe that, you will believe radically different things about the world. Church attendance does not make you a believer. Joyce Meyer loves to say: “I can sit in the garage all day long and that doesn't make me a car any more than someone sitting in a church makes them a believer.” She is exactly right. Believing is hard. Believing penetrates to the core of your soul.
You can check your beliefs; there are easy tools. The first place you can look to see what you really believe is by opening up your bank statement. Where do you spend your money? Matthew 6:24 says that you cannot serve money and God. Does the destination for your money reveal God’s priorities for your life? Another check for your belief system is the closeness you feel to God. Does it feel as if He has made His home in you? How would you know that? John 14:23 says:
“Jesus replied, Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Do you hate anyone? That is another litmus test for belief according to 1 John 2:9:
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.”
Believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came to earth to live and die as a propitiation for our sin does not come easy. It certainly didn't come easy for Jesus and; though it may sound easy for believers, it is impossible without God’s help.
Believing in God’s love for me has gotten easier the longer I have practiced it. However, I would not say it is easy. Even now it is not easy to focus my thoughts around the wonderful Divine presence that is promised to be with me in my every movement as I write just now. It is much easier to watch the clock so I get the devotion written by the deadline or to think about the people who will read this week’s devotion than it is to really be one with God in writing to you today.
Jesus knows that most won't believe. In John 5:64 He said:
“Yet there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.”
Jesus knew that it was not easy to believe. He asked Peter if he was going to believe, to which Peter answered:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Perhaps that’s when you know you really believe—when there is no other place to go.
