BELIEF IN LIFE OR NIHILISM

“Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21).

How do we deal with the temptation to waver through unbelief? We are surrounded by pressures to disbelieve in God’s promises. Our lives are impacted by circumstances and events that deny the goodness and the love of God for us. Wars and rumors of wars, economic setbacks, seemingly incompetent government, random viruses, the threat of cancer and other diseases, aging issues, painful betrayals, relationship indifference, loneliness, rejection, and personal failure. Where is God in all this? Or is the universe some cosmic delusion? Is there any purpose or meaning to all this elaborate charade we call human life? No wonder there is the temptation to embrace some kind of nihilism: a total rejection of Christian beliefs, a skepticism that denies all existence, and opts instead for personal liberation from all norms, morals, and restraints. How can you be strengthened in your faith to withstand these assaults? By being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he had promised.

Where is this power to be found? God gives life to the dead and calls into being things that are not. Where do you come from? Who gave you life? What is the origin of life, your life? Your  biological father and mother obviously. Who gave them life? Their biological fathers and mothers. And so you can go on to the beginning of the human race. The origin of life is a mystery. No one was there to observe it. It came about either from the author of life, whom we call God, or from nothing. Life is a miracle. The fertilizing of an egg by a sperm resulted in you. You are the product of two microcosms uniting. Abraham and Sarah were incapable of conceiving naturally until God gave them his promise. They were too old to produce a baby. Yet God promised them a son and that eventually down through the generations their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

One day Abraham and Sarah died. Their bodies disintegrated into nothingness. Yet they had the promise of resurrection to eternal life in the presence of God. That promise was realized in the resurrection of Jesus. It is God’s promise to us as well: “The words were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”(Rom.4:23,24) “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” (1 Cor.15:22,23)

The power of God is found in the gift of biological life in creation, and the gift of eternal life in resurrection. We can be strengthened in faith and give glory to God being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he had promised. We can resist the temptation to waver through unbelief because we affirm the reality of our own existence and the resurrection of Jesus. No matter what our circumstances and the pressures of the culture to succumb to unbelief we have the power of God to give life now and forever. God is good and loves us despite all that is negative in the world around us.