IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION YOU CAN ASK YOURSELF.

JESUS ANSWERED, "THE WORK OF GOD IS THIS: TO BELIEVE IN THE ONE HE HAS SENT."  

JOHN 6:29

I read the Bible for nearly 2 years before I got the point.  

Now, I’m no super genius, but I do love literature. I was an English major in college when the Bible, in all of its strange appeal, sucked me in. I remember thinking,“Surely, I should read the most popular and enduring book in the world, right?” So, I did. And if anyone should’ve gotten the main point of the text, it was me. Still, as I read chapter after chapter, the main idea completely eluded me. I could see the grand arc of the story, written over centuries, telling the tale of humanity. I understood the conflict between a holy God and distrustful, disobedient humans. I loved the messy, true-to-life characters and the exotic settings. And the raw emotions in the poetry often brought me to tears. But somehow, I was blind to see the “why” of the story.          

(CONTINUED BELOW) 

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Or maybe, I was just closing my eyes.  

Deep down, I was afraid I’d be disappointed with what I’d find if I opened them up. Surely, this book I had come to relish was just another fantastic fairy tale, too good to be true. Well actually, not all of it. The Bible had humanity spot-on—a bunch of messes. But the picture of God in there was unreal! He was a husband banging down the doors of his wife’s lovers to bring her home. He was a father running to embrace his wayward son. He was unlike any God I’d ever known—a God-Man who came not to condemn but to release the captives. And it was all too wonderful to be true. Wasn’t it? I mean, was he really here at my prison cell, ready to open it? In light of all my wandering, was he willing to embrace this wayward child? And knowing all my shameful other loves, was he here banging on the door, asking me to come home? He was. I could feel it. And he had but one stipulation: 

“Will you believe?” 

This is it—the one thing I had to do. Crazy-simple right? How could it be? I merely had to “believe in the one he sent” like our memory verse says. I had to believe Jesus was God’s answer to my sin problem, believe he exchanged his life for mine, believe he replaced my shame with his own goodness, believe I’d been given a new life, one that can never perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4). God was asking me to believe the “why” of his book. He was asking me not just to find it true historically, but personally. And I did. And he’s asking you too.  

“Will you believe?” 

This is THE question. It’s the question our verse is asking us—you and me. It’s the question the whole Bible is asking. It’s the question that’s echoed in my heart every day since I first said “Yes.” And it’s the question we should ask ourselves every day.  

“Will I believe today?” 

Thanks for reading,