12-31-2019

Good Morning All, 

John 12:46; “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

    “Do you believe?” “I can’t believe it!” “Can you believe she wore that outfit again?” “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it!” “I believe I will have some more dessert.”  We have many uses for the word “believe.”  It gets tossed around enough that we may not really understand what it means.  We start the Apostle’s Creed with “I believe” but what are we really saying.  For many, believing is a mental exercise; it is accepting something as true but that is the end of it.  This is not what it means to believe.  To believe means that our actions, our decisions, our future depends on the truth that we believe.  To believe means that this truth alters our life.

    These past few days, our part of paradise has experienced a blizzard.  Traffic was pretty much at a standstill but slowly coming back to normal.  It wasn’t a surprise; the forecast was pretty solid 36 hours before it hit.  Most people believed the forecast but what does that mean?  It means that those who were planning on travelling left early. We made sure we had milk, eggs and bread.  I got plenty of gas for the snowblower and we pulled the generator into the garage, so we had easy access to it.  We even started it to make sure it was ready. 

    Belief leads to a way of living.  To say, I believe, means to live in accordance with your belief.  You cannot live opposite of your belief; you will always live as you believe.  This is what you use to serve as the compass or guiding light in your life.  You live as you believe.  If you truly believe that Jesus came into the world to die and to rise again to give you life, you will live your life in accordance with that truth.  If you don’t believe, then something else will be the driving force.

    This is what Scriptures means when it says, “a tree is known by its fruit.”  What you produce, how you live, speak, treat others and where your priorities are shows what you believe.  Our life is the product of our belief.  If our belief is in Jesus as our Savior, we will live in a certain fashion, loving our neighbor, caring for creation, seeing our hope in God and knowing our eternal future with Jesus is secure.

    So, why do we sin? Why do we fall short?  Sometimes, it catches us by surprise and sometimes it catches us at a weak moment in our life, a time of fear or pain.  Yet sin does not change our belief.  Belief is how I desire to live; I may fail but the desire remains, and God’s Spirit remains in me encouraging me to grow and to trust, to live without fear.  Faith grows as trust increases and our belief becomes more secure.  Jesus came to shine the light on the truth; his death and resurrection gives us life, so we can live a life in the light, living as we were created to; loving one another.

Father of all mercies help our unbelief!  Guide us by your Spirit that we may produce the fruit you desire.  Keep us safe in your loving arms and lead us to be your hands, voice and arms in this world.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret