I Believe
StreetWise - August 2014 by Paul Hazelden
Dear friends,
What do you believe? When people ask you, what do you tell them? This is the sort of thing I say; I hope you find it useful.
I believe in Jesus. I do not believe doctrines about Jesus (although the doctrines are important), but the person of Jesus, Who calls me to follow and obey Him.
Believing in doctrines is easy; believing in Jesus means committing yourself to a person, which is much harder. For me, this sort of commitment has never been better expressed than by Ruth when she refuses to leave Naomi.
'But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried."'
I believe in the Kingdom of God. This is not about God being in charge, but about God's will being done. We pray for this because God's will is not being done on Earth. We are in a mess because our will is being done, because we think we know better than He does.
Believing in Jesus means submitting to God's will being done in our lives; it means dying to our own plans and prejudices, so that His goodness and love and justice can be made real in the lives of the people around us.
I believe in the Church of Jesus. The Church, of course, is not a building but a people called out by Jesus.
We are called out by Jesus because it is only as a united group that we will be able to follow Him and see His Kingdom built.
We are not designed to be self-sufficient. A finger a kidney, an eye or a hand can achieve nothing on its own. It is only when we are each connected with the Body of Christ, each playing our unique role within the Body, that the Body can work to see the Kingdom built and Jesus glorified.
It does not matter if you have a formal job: what matters is that you are connected, you are where God wants you to be, relating, living, loving; and playing the role He has given you, which is mostly about learning to be the person He created you to be.
This is what I believe. Now it is your turn - what do you believe?