Yesterday I talked a little about my personal experiences, and how they have led me to a more grounded belief in God. I was thinking about this this morning... There was a time not so very long ago when I clung more to the idea of a God than to God Himself. I could tell you all there was to tell about how much He loved us, about Jesus, about the promise of eternity in heaven, because I had learned it all in Sunday School. But, I came to a point in my experiences where a concept wasn't enough to base my life on. I wanted to know for sure, once and for all, if this God I had always heard of, this God that I had tried to live for, was really real. If He really was everything I had been told. If He really loved me the way the Bible says. At some point, just knowing what I had been told by others wasn't enough. I needed my own experiences with God to be the real basis of my belief in Him. But in order to experience Him, I had to give Him a chance to show Himself to me.
I remember the night I made that decision. I was alone in my basement in our house in Toledo. I can remember giving it some seriously heavy thought, and in the midst of some significant doubts, coming to the conclusion that I would make a step of faith, try to align my life with what the Bible says, and start to get to know Him. I remember thinking, 'I'm not really sure where this is going to take me' since I really didn't know if it was all real or not. But I can tell you that the last 6 years have been consistently full of experiences that have far exceeded my expectations. Even though I still sometimes struggle with doubt (like I said a minute ago, it's sometimes a challenge to believe when we're faced with something we don't understand), it would be really difficult for me to imagine a scenario that could convince me of anything other than the fact that there is a God. He has made Himself real to me....because I asked Him to.
The events of John 4 are similar to what I've just described in my own life. In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus meets a woman by a well, and begins talking to her. As the conversation continues, He reveals Himself to her as the Messiah, the Anointed One. She then goes into the town and tells everyone 'Come, see a Man Who has told me everything I ever did! Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?' So the people left the town and set out to go to Him. (verses 29-30). Now look what happens in verses 39-42:
39 - Now numerous Samaritans from that town believed in and trusted in Him because of what the woman said when she declared and testified, He told me everything that I ever did.
40 - So when the Samaritans arrived, they asked Him to remain with them, and He did stay there two days.
41 - Then many more believed in and adhered to and relied on Him because of His personal message [what He Himself said].
42 - And they told the woman, Now we no longer believe (trust, have faith) just because of what you said; for we have heard Him ourselves [personally], and we know that He truly is the Savior of the world, the Christ.
In verse 39, these people came to Him and believed in Him initially because of what they had been told by someone else. One woman's testimony sparked a flame of faith in them and caused them to move toward Jesus to see what He was all about. In verse 40, we see that when they got to Him, they asked Him to stay, and He did. Then the next two verses tell us that their belief in Him continued and was strengthened by their own personal encounter with Him. They no longer believed simply because of what they had been told by another, but they now believed because they had experienced Him personally. This is God's design for us. He may work through another person's teaching or testimony to draw us to Him, but ultimately, we must begin our own personal relationship with Him if our faith is ever to be based on something truly solid.
Like these Samaritans, my own personal experience has strengthened my faith, and has allowed me to firmly believe in the God of the Bible - the God of Genesis 1 - the God who has always been and who always will be.
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