22 Mar There is “No Retreat” in a Robust Christian Life
Blog Series
Why Believe in God? ~ If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.
This blog is written for Christians.
I think that, depending on the topic of particular blog posts, non-Christians can read it and derive some benefit from it, but it is written for Christians. If it were written for non-Christians, many of the topics we cover would have to be much deeper – presenting much more information to try to inform and persuade an unbeliever about something they might be ignorant of or resistant to.
But, if we already believe in God, if we already have a Christian worldview, then it typically takes less information to persuade us of the reasonableness of certain conclusions and behavior.
This current blog series began with looking at the evidence for God’s existence. If we already believe in Him, then instead of needing an avalanche of information to overcome ignorance and reluctance, we are satisfied with a strategic core of information that convincingly points to and reaffirms a direction we have already gone.
That’s what happened to me. When I studied the five free miracles that modern science wants us to give them, and realized that science has no credible rebuttal to the existence of God, it doubled my confidence in what I already believed, and tripled my joy.
So, in the first eleven articles in this blog series, we looked at a lean core of information that convincingly points to “God’s existence.” Now we want to so something similar with looking at the struggles Christians face in “living for God” once we believe in Him.
When Christians struggle with God
My main point in this series has been that if we reject God, we have only done half the job. The other half is that we have to explain reality without Him, which is – in my opinion – impossible.
Yet, while Christians may not actually reject God, we can go through a phase in which we get weak and indecisive about following Him completely because of questions or struggles we have. Our incomplete faith results in incomplete obedience, which results in incomplete joy and satisfaction with our Christian experience.
Incomplete Faith > Incomplete Obedience > Incomplete Joy & Satisfaction
It is not uncommon for Christians to languish in the shadows of an unsatisfying Christian experience because of unresolved questions or struggles.
Hope is found only in moving toward God
My main goal as we proceed with this series is to help Christians to see that, just as a scientist can only find an explanation for “what is” by moving toward God, in the same way, whatever our dissatisfactions with our Christian experience may be, the answer is found in moving toward God not moving away from Him.
If we fall away from God because of our questions and struggles, then we must explain (if only in our own minds) how our life will be better by moving away from God than remaining faithful to Him.
If we are committed to moving toward God for answers, we find help that we likely never would find if we were not committed to moving toward Him.
Do we think Christianity promised more than it has delivered in our satisfaction with life? Have we been frustrated and discouraged because God hasn’t made our life go better? Do we wrestle with unresolved anxiety or fear or anger? Do we struggle with all the pain and suffering in the world? Have we tried it, and it didn’t work?
These are common issues in the Christian life, and this blog will not give complete answers to all those issues. But I want to reinforce the point that the answers can only be found by moving toward God, not away from Him.
To that end, we will look at, not an avalanche of information to convince someone who is ignorant or resistant – but rather, a core of information that convincingly points in a direction we would be willing to go if we could just see it.
The answer to our challenges in life is to be resolute in our determination to press toward God for the answer, rather than fall back away from God.
It is typical, when we struggle in our Christian experience, to start looking to things outside the will of God to fill our void. I have spent all-too-much time in my Christian life doing just that. Trying to get satisfaction in my life outside the will of God for things the will of God did not give me. It made a major difference when I became convinced that I would never get where I wanted to go in the Christian life by fiddling around with inferior substitutes for God’s will. I would only get where I wanted to go by abandoning myself to God and His will.
Conclusion
So, my goal in the remainder of this blog series is to bring us to a point at which we become convinced that the answer to our challenges in life lie in moving toward God and not away from Him. I hope to do that by presenting a concise body of information that convincingly points in a direction we would likely be willing to go if we just see it.
The answers to our struggles are sometimes very hard. Moving toward God may involve counseling, it may involve addiction therapy, it may involve examining and giving up on life hopes and goals, it may involve making costly decisions, it may even involve forfeiting our life (as is often the case in the Muslim world, China, and other very hard anti-Christian places). But next week, we will begin to look at how God will meet us at whatever our point of need is, and lead us to the point at which we have peace and joy in the knowledge and belief that, in the end, “all will be well.”
I look forward to sharing this transforming truth with you.
In case you’re new here
This blog post is part of a series titled “Why Believe in God? If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.”, introduced on January 5, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives at www.maxanders.com.
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to my web site (www.maxanders.com) and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.
I look forward to going through this faith-affirming journey with you.
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