Seems silly to ask…
But an important question for each of us to answer.
Do you/we know what we actually believe about the essentials? You know, the important stuff like… “What or who is God,” “what role does Faith play in our lives”… “What is Christianity”… “Where do I land on the moral and social justice issues of our time,” “Does absolute truth exist”?
We often carry what we ‘know’ without much consideration. With no urgency to explore the reasons why we ‘believe’ stuff… we sort of move through life untroubled by doubt until someone else crosses our path and disagrees stridently with us. Suddenly we’re confronted with all sorts of irritated thoughts and questions, strong emotional reactions pouring out of us in a rush to defend our beliefs, it’s often in those moments we start to realize we truly can’t explain why.
Personal convictions of truth must go deeper than a vague concept of what’s right or wrong or a long ago memorized creed. Today, we need to go beyond what we were ‘taught’ or learned ourselves from pop culture, childhood Sunday school lessons, or the simple acceptance of what our parents said was true. What do WE believe?
Complex and life altering influences are all around us. From the latest polls to the block-buster movies we’re catching at the local cinema, we may be absorbing more of our cultures beliefs than we realize, reduced to a faith based-carbon copy of our secular counterparts. Emotion driving us to form our values and personal beliefs, from recycling to a woman’s freedom of choice.
With a moment or two of consideration, we may find we’re far less formed in faith beliefs and convictions than we first ‘thought we were’.
What do we believe…?
My challenge dear reader.., take the time to find out! Invest a little time in some personal research. Educate yourself by reading up and praying through your life. Ask God to show and confirm to you the “truth”.
Learn about some of the defining issues of our time and consider for yourself what is ‘right’ and ‘true’. Our kids will take their ‘que’ from us. If they see us asking the important questions… they will too.
In this millennial generation, maybe more so than any in a long time…beliefs are going to be tested. Simply ‘assuming’ our kids agree with us because they compliantly follow along right now, isn’t going to cut it. We /They need to ask the hard questions, wrestle through the options and find the truth for themselves.
Honestly, there just isn’t any other way. And, I believe it’s all as intended by the great designer Himself.
