I am suffering now because I tell the Good News, but I am not ashamed, because I know Jesus, the One in whom I have believed. And I am sure he is able to protect what he has trusted me with until that day.
2 Timothy 1:12 NCV
Rod Stewart sang a song with these words; if I listen long enough to you I’ll find a reason to believe. The verse above was written thousands of years before Rod Stewart’s song, yet the similar words still ring out a reason to believe.
Why do we believe what we believe? Why did Paul have so much certainly in Jesus Christ? Why could he put his trust in Jesus? He never met Him while Jesus was on earth, yet Paul states he did meet Jesus heading towards Damascus. It was a dramatic moment and not one in which most people come to a state like Paul I know who I have believed.
This is prison prayer week in the UK and yesterday I listened to Jonathan Aitken’s brief encounter on how he met Jesus and how he kept him through that time in prison and today Jonathan is an ordained minister seeking to encourage others to come to know Jesus and know Jesus personally.
So why is it important what you believe? Can I suggest
what people believe affects the way they behave.
Underlying their way of living, their outlook, standards and priorities, are certain beliefs that give rise to their manner of life.
Paul was a persecutor of the Christian faith. Jonathan by his own admission lied to the courts and yet both men became influenced and had their lives dramatically changed by Jesus Christ to the point I raised above. It has affected the way they now behave.
Tonight I will be continuing the Alpha course in which we are on a journey discovering who this Jesus is, who so transformed lives.
So let me leave you today with part of the Alpha series in which evidence for the existence in Jesus can be a good starting point and we this week look at the reason to believe.
Keep Safe and Blessed