Mar 19, 2012
Why Trust Jesus Christ?
A helpful question
Sometimes to shake up and strengthen my faith — I’ll ask — “Why am I trusting Jesus Christ?”
This shakes up my faith — because it makes me look honestly at whether I am trusting Him or not.
And it strengthens my faith — because it reminds me of the overwhelming reasons I have to trust Him.
Here’s five main reasons –
The existence of the universe.
Something unbelievable has happened.
Somehow a universe has come into being — with millions of 100,000 light-years wide galaxies, quantum particles, tomatoes growing in my backyard, and you reading and understanding these words.
Design in the universe.
Not only is there a universe, but it looks like it’s been designed — from the earth’s being the exact distance from the sun so it’s not too warm or cold, to the fact that the oatmeal I ate 2 hours ago is being processed into fuel without me even thinking about it.
I’ve never seen things like this arise by chance — they always come from an intelligent designer.
The reality of personhood.
You know that you are not just a blob of random chemical actions and reactions. You are a personal being who meaningfully chooses, communicates, loves, works, and feels.
So here we are in a universe with Design and Personhood. What can explain this?
To me the best explanation is that an intelligent, personal, all-powerful God created everything.
So — can we know anything about this God?
Do we have any reason to think He has communicated with us?
The historical evidence for Jesus.
We have four eye-witness documents describing Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection — one written by a tax collector (Matthew), one by a young man (Mark), one by a medical doctor (Luke), and one by a fisherman (John).
These documents agree that God came to earth in the person of Jesus — that Jesus the man was also fully God.
We can see this in how Jesus lived — with perfect integrity (Mat 22:16), matchless wisdom (Luke 20:39-40), passionate justice (John 2:15-16), and overflowing compassion (Luke 7:13-15).
We can see this in how Jesus worked miracles only God could do — healing a blind man’s eyes (Mark 10:51-52), commanding a storm to stop (Mark 4:39), multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 (Luke 9:16-17), and raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43-44).
We can see this in how Jesus said He would be crucified and then rise from the dead three days later (Mark 8:31). And just as He said — He was crucified (John 19:18), three days later the tomb was empty (John 20:2), and over 500 eyewitnesses saw him physically alive from the dead (1Cor 15:6).
So there’s massive historical evidence confirming that Jesus the man was also fully God.
Which would mean that in Jesus we see what God is like, and we learn what God wants us to know.
My experience of God in Christ.
If you met God, you would have no doubt that it was Him.
You would not ask for His credentials — because God is a being like no other — with infinite power, perfect goodness, blazing glory.
God is self-authenticating.
That’s important, because if we are trusting Jesus Christ, God will give us tastes of His self-authenticating presence. This happens as we pray, read the Bible, worship, or talk with others (Hos 6:3; John 4:13-14; John 7:37-38; 2Cor 4:6).
This is the most powerful reason to trust Christ.
So it’s helpful to remember times when I have had a first-hand experience of God –
- when I experienced His love pouring in to my heart (Rom 5:5).
- when I felt His living water quenching my heart-thirsts (John 7:37-38).
- when I sensed His glory revealed in Christ (2Cor 4:6).
When I am doubting
So when I am doubting, it’s helpful to remind myself of –
- the astonishing existence of the universe.
- the fact that this universe looks like it was designed.
- the existence of people with personhood.
- the historical evidence that Jesus was God in the flesh.
- the times when I have had first-hand experience of God’s reality in Jesus Christ.
How does this impact you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, pushback. Feel free to leave a reply below. Thanks.
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(Picture used with permission of NASA.)
Hmm…
Honestly, Steve, I’m far more prone to having trust in Jesus because of my experiences with Him, though I do understand that it is fascinating and overwhelming to look at the universe, its design, or our personhood. But maybe I am somewhat supersaturated with planets, stars and black holes because my husband is a genuine “astronomy addict” (watching and taking pictures of stars, galaxies, galactic nebulae, and globular clusters), and so I am used to daily conversations about the universe. The only time when I – voluntarily
– happen to cast a glance through the huge telescope on the roof terrace is, when you can see the wondrous full moon. There you can clearly discern every mountain and valley, and you get the feeling that the moon is so near that you can touch it.
Looking back, I remember a very tough time in my life, when an atheistic female scholar asked me, “Why do you trust in God? Did he ever disappoint you?” And my immediate response was, “Never!”
Of course, there were people who disappointed me, and I myself disappointed others as well. However, although I do not understand God’s inscrutable ways and His thinking, I clearly see that He alone can be trusted for he always led me out of chaotic, unforeseeable and painful situations. Even when I was doubting and would have liked rather to get, so to speak, “on the next train”, and leaving my painful past behind, He reminded me of the following Scriptures, and proved them always to be true:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Referring to what you like to say, Steve – if God doesn’t give me what I want to have, He will give me something much more better than this (spiritually spoken) for He is God who works wonders (miracles). Hence, I have trust in Jesus. Period.
Many Blessings,
Susanne
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Susanne. And I loved hearing about your husband’s interest in astronomy.
I’m like you in that the strongest reason is first-hand experience I have had of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
But I find the other reasons helpful to share with those who have not yet had such experiences — to give them reasons that can embrace as a starting point.
And I love your testimony of how God has never disappointed you. I agree. He doesn’t always do what we ask, or what we prefer — but He always brings us what will satisfy us the most — more of Himself.
May the Father richly bless you today!
Steve
As vast as the universe is, it’s so wonderful to know that Jesus was actually here, and that He has placed an incredibly high value on us.
You are so right, Bill. How amazing to think that the Creator of this incredibly huge universe would come and live here among us.
And that He would love us so much that He — the Creator of Everything — would be punished in our place and die so we could be forgiven.
“Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God shouldst die for me?”
Like my dad says, we can give our complete trust to Gethsemane Love.
This past week my area was DEFINITELY going to have two back to back storms with flash floods. Every news channel agreed. I decided to ask Him to ‘show up’. I lifted my hands and asked Him to stop these storms from coming. They never came. The people of this city will never know why. They probably figured the weathermen was wrong but I knew they was right. A far greater Power than theirs was set in motion.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your story, Guenevere. I agree that God is able to stop storms, and that He answers prayer.
Onward!
Steve Fuller