Yes, I Believe

Ok, here's the post that I really wanted to write yesterday. But then I found a different soap box, stepped up onto it, and, well, I gave a little rant. Now that's out of my system (and really, should I be surprised that yet another TV offering is superficial and contrived?), and I can get back to what I was really thinking about.

I was listening to one of the "speakers" in TLC's The Messengers yesterday. A woman was espousing her point of view that we, as a culture, are pressured to "believe" religion, to "believe" in whatever we call true, to "believe" in the facts of our lives, and thus we cheat ourselves out of realizing that what we have right now is perfect. Her solution? To grasp the moment by knowing these same things, not simply believing them.

So I started thinking. What is this distinction between knowledge and belief? Are we as Christians missing something by emphasizing belief? So many songs speak of belief. By definition, we say we are Christians because we believe in Jesus. Is this somehow a lesser expression of trust than to say that we know?

But really, faith is both. It's "being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). I know that God exists, that He sent His Son to live as a man, that Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sins, that He rose from the dead, that He offers eternal life to all who put their trust in Him, that He provides the Holy Spirit as a counsellor and guide in my life. These are all things that I have not directly observed in the past or present, or they are things that I hope for in the future. But I know them all to be true, by historical record as well as personal experience of the effects of these facts in my life and in the lives of others. So, to agree with the contestant on TV, I know these things.

But it's also true that I believe them. If knowing implies a certainty of mind, so that I accept these things as real, there's still something missing. And that is belief. A choice of mind and heart. A choice to trust in the promises made. I believe in Jesus. I believe in salvation by grace, not my works of good. I believe that I will live eternally with Christ in Heaven, and I believe in His working in and through me by the agent of the Holy Spirit.

I know these things to be real, but beyond that I have committed my heart to also believing and trusting them.

That's what was missing. It's great to say "I know" something. But if I know it and don't let it change my life, if I simply stop there and am satisfied with accepting these things as facts, the knowledge stays in my head. I want it to live in my heart, my very being, as well.

Conversely, belief without knowledge is equally incomplete. I don't want to believe in something about which I can't say "I know this to be true". What would be the point? As Paul wrote to the Romans, if I believe in Christ's resurrection, but it didn't really happen, then my faith, my belief, is futile.

So the speaker had one kernel of truth in her argument. It's pointless to simply believe, believe. We must know. And knowing, we must believe.