Can you trust what you believe?

What do you believe? What keeps you moving throughout the day when pressures hit you from all sides and you’re longing to just make it home to the security of your warm bed? What makes you believe that your bed will be warm? What makes you believe that your home is secure? What makes you believe that the pressures you’re facing are for your demise rather than your benefit? What belief do you have that tomorrow will be better? What belief do you have that says all of this is worth anything?

As a child, did you believe in good days and bad days? Do children today have good days or bad days? When did you first recognize that a particular day was different from another day? As a child did you eagerly anticipate the arrival of a bearded fat man, dressed in red, who broke into your home, stole your food, yet left toys as a payment, and then departed without even waking up your parents? What made you believe this was a good event?

Also, what made you believe that a tiny, winged humanoid would visit your room at night, reach under your pillow for a recently rejected tooth, and exchange it for a token of commerce? Did you ever believe that you could exchange all your teeth at once just to acquire the latest action figure? When did you stop believing in this merry little denture nymph? Did it happen when you came to see the return on investment in a root canal outweighed the void in your mouth and the token you’d receive in return?

How many of the things that you believe, things that you hold dear to your heart, were simply beliefs handed down to you by parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, bosses, even, yes, preachers? How do you know if these beliefs are as valid today as the day that you received them? Where would you be today if just one of your beliefs changed? Is it possible to change a belief? If it is, how come we refuse to do it? If it isn’t, why are we so eager to adopt them?

Is it possible to live a good life believing something that isn’t true? In this instance, is the definition of “good” attached to what is true, or to the belief in what is really false? If believing in something which isn’t true creates a life of opulence, fame and notoriety while believing in truth creates a life of bitterness, sorrow and depravity, does it matter to us, or to our friends and family what we believe? Do we believe for our sake, or for the sake of those we seek to impress?

Do you believe yourself to be a good person? Do you believe you are a bad person? Do you believe that you are both good and bad? Do you believe that the difference is only in the circumstances? Do you believe this to be true for others? Do you believe people, good or bad, are always just good or bad? Do you believe that can love a bad person? Do you believe that love can change a person to become good or bad? Do you believe that believing in the goodness of a person makes that person good when they are around you? Do you believe that believing in the badness of a person makes that person bad when they are around you?

Do you believe that God cares about how good or bad we are when we’re around him? Do you believe that God doesn’t care about how good or bad we are when we’re around him? Do you believe in God being up-there, out-there away from your daily routine, or do you believe God is down-here, in-here among the events that confront us? Do you believe that God doesn’t love you because you don’t feel his presence? Do you believe God loves you because he is in everything that surrounds you? Do you believe that the grace of God is the only thing keeping you going in life? Do you believe that the grace of God is who you are for those in your life who find it hard to keep going?

Are you a believer? What defines you as a believer? Do you trust what you believe? Do you trust who you believe? Do you believe “in” someone, or, do you believe “on” someone? Do you believe in someone for who they intrinsically are, or, for what they actually have done? Do you believe that we can only believe one thing about someone?

Do you believe truth always prevails? How would I recognize this belief in your actions around others if they are deemed to be bad people?

Do you believe that dead people can live again? Do you believe in an eternal life or a life after this life? Is your belief in God predicated on death or life? Do you believe this life matters? Do you believe that the life we live determines the rewards we receive in an eternal life? Do you believe that the life we live determines the judgment we receive in an eternal life? Do you believe more in reward or judgement? Do you believe that someone can take on your judgement? Do you believe that only you can experience judgement? Do you believe that you can receive the reward of another? Do you believe that only you can receive a reward? Do you believe that someone can die for the sake of the life of another? Do you believe that this has already happened?

What would it take for you to believe that our Eternal Father, loved you and I, separately and collectively, so much, even before there was a world for us to inhabit, that he decided to give us all the goodness he possessed by creating our world, coming down to share it with us in the form of his son, Jesus, who lived a life just as we all live, died at the hands of persecutors upon a cross, was buried and rose to life again, imparting his spirit of life to all humanity, and continues today to pour out his love through the multitude of people in your life, all of whom have been made in the Father’s image and likeness, despite how they act around us? If you believed in Santa and tooth fairies, why not believe a truth which knows no lie?