“If”

August 22, 2011 (Monday)
Three dangerous “if’s”: 1. If there is a God, 2. If God can see me through this situation, 3. If I am a Christian. I must be able to say each of those phrases without the “if,” if I am to have peace of mind.
There is a God. I need not pray, “If you are there…” because “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). Instead of saying, “If there is a God…” ask instead, “If there is no God, then what is the meaning of life?” Can it be that MacBeth was correct in saying that life is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?” Atheism opens the door of the mind to a deep and dark cavern from which a voice urges us to abandon all hope.
God can see me through this, whatever it may be. As I face the latest test in my life, I can hear the voice of Jesus asking, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25). Can it be that God wants our faith to be so strong that unbelievers may see it as foolhardiness? Time after time God has supplied our needs. He will continue to do so.
I am a child of God by faith. Sometimes I have doubts, but God always helps me to overcome them. In my more lucid moments I realize that a doubting Christian is a paralyzed Christian, because his will has been rendered helpless in the face of his doubts. Let us say and really mean the same words that Paul shouted for all the world to hear: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12 NIV).
The “If’s” must go! Faith must take their place! I believe–how about you?