How Can We NOT Believe?

Readings:  Isaiah 40:25-31, I Peter  2:11-20, John 16:16-22

I've been reading a layman's book on cranial-sacral therapy to better understand the good changes happening to me and those around me who have started receiving treatments. As Tom and I were headed out in the car yesterday, I was reading passages from the interesting book. The process and how it affects the skull, the dura mater, the spinal column, etc. was given in great depth accompanied by several illustrations. As I read more and more, I finally looked over at Tom and asked, "HOW can people NOT believe in God?" All the intricacies of the human body! What a wondrous miracle our bodies are! And they just happened?

Wow.

I love the words of Isaiah 40:26, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens; Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing." Any of us who have been out on a clear night and where we can see the heavens without the interference of artificial lights feels overwhelmed by the magnificence of what seems to be millions of stars. God's work indeed. 

I'm not sure why we humans find it difficult to believe in a loving creator. Again, the words in Isaiah: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (40: 28-29). We appreciate and defend other religions to freely practice their faith; yet when it comes to our own, we too often become apologists. The result?

In the March 2012 issue of The Lutheran, the statistics are depressing: 44% of those polled in a Baylor University survey in 2011 responded that they spend no time seeking "eternal wisdom" and 19% responded with "It's useless to search for meaning"; another statistic reported that back in 2007 6.3% of those surveyed by the Pew Forum's Religious Landscape Survey consider themselves completely secular--religion was not at all important in their lives--one can only imagine what that number is now.

I have a feeling that this disconnectedness is in direct connection to the "it's all about me" revolution that has swept the country in the past few years. If it never enters my mind as a disciple of Christ to love my neighbor as myself, I'm just pretty much going to end up just loving myself...let my neighbor figure out his/her own deal.

Sigh.Is there no hope for the believers and for encouraging others to believe? 

Absolutely there is hope...there's always hope where there is faith. But we also know that the world will become more and more separated from us as we travel through this short span of this lifetime and, of course, this saddens us. John 16:22 tells it beautifully: "So with you; now is the time of grief, and I will see you again and you will rejoice, for no one will take away your joy." In the meantime, we also know that our quest is to win others over to the perfect love of Christ and of God by helping those around us. We look to our own backyards as well as across the globe to see where we can emulate the love of Christ through our good works. Faith is the answer, but as Paul shared with us, our faith leads us to follow Christ's example and to love and help our brothers and sisters on Earth. How indeed can we NOT believe just how important it is TO believe in order to share the Good News with others?

Peace be with you.