What do we Really Believe?
Meditation for the week of January 2, 2011
1Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.
We have reached the beginning of another new year. Many people are making new year’s resolutions and are trying to change their behavior so that they will be better people. However, if we really want to change our behavior we need to ask ourselves what we believe as bedrock truth. We need to know how well these beliefs worked for us last year and whether they are going to carry us though another year. What we believe will determine what we do.
Recently, I read an article for an institute that deals with alternative medicine. The institute said that the mainstream medical establishment is conspiring to get us to believe seven lies about our health. The institute believes that cancer, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis can be cured with naturopathic medicine, some of which is cheap, cheap, cheap. Mainstream medicine is costly and poisonous according to the institute. Some of the vitamins, minerals and supplements are available in health food stores and some of them are available through the institute. They have naturopathic supplements that will reverse the aging process by 10-15 years. Being a survivor of a heart stent and being on an aspirin regimen as well as cholesterol lowering medication, I have a choice to make. Do I believe the Institute, which will send me a free book if I will just sign up for a relatively cheap yearly membership, or do I believe the mainstream medical establishment? What and who I believe will affect what I do probably more than any new year’s resolution will. What I do could affect the quality if not the length of my life.
Being a conspiracy theorist whenever lots of money is involved, I am really tempted to believe the institute that produced the ad. But being a conservative person who doesn’t like change and because my present medical program seems to be working, I will probably stay with those who are robbing us blind with their medications and expensive invasive medical procedures.
We have a similar problem when it comes to spiritual things. We are constantly being bombarded with religion and spirituality that is neither true religion as James 1:27 defines true religion, nor is it the kind of spirituality that we get from the Holy Spirit. At least half the lies that are told from the pulpits of America and from the books that we read are not true. The other half of the lies aren’t any better, but many of the lies are believable. They are told in an authoritative way by people with degrees, so the arguments are very persuasive As a result, some people think that all “religions” are the same. Some people think that having no religion is as good as those who have religion because religion is generally cruel, self-serving, deceitful and hypocritical. They forget that many of the religious people in the Bible were not even believers in the Lord. They had turned away from Him, but they held themselves out as teachers and leaders. I am afraid that is true of many who seem to be very “religious” today as well. While we may not be serving “Baal” like the Israelites did, we certainly know how to serve mammon (wealth) through religion and we know how to use religion to control people.
Obviously what we believe and who we believe does make a difference. As we go into the new year, are we going to believe God when He says that we must believe that He Is (Hebrews 11:6); that is, we must believe that He exists? Are we going to believe God when He says that He sent His Son into the world to save us from our sins? Or are we going to believe that it doesn’t matter what we believe so long as we try to be good people? God gave us some convincing evidences that the Bible is His Word and that we can depend on it. Isaiah 53, written 700 years before the crucifixion happened, is one of those evidences. It describes the crucifixion and gives us the reason for it. Isaiah 53:3-6 says: He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Whose “opinion” are we going to believe? Are we going to let an unbelieving world convince us to turn away from a loving Savior or are we going to believe God? I personally have taken God at His Word and it gives me great peace as we face another new year.
Bruce Collins