Allow me to explain...

I believe in Jesus.

This morning I found myself—not for the first time—asking why. It’s often been hard for me to answer that question when asked, to put into words the faith that is so critical to my being. I know I believe in Jesus, but what makes it so? And what does it mean? The question wouldn’t leave me alone, so I took out my tiny passport-shaped notebook and tried to crank out a response—which came more easily the more I wrote. In examining this question and my own faith, I came to a realization of the confidence that I have in God’s truth and His hand in my life.

So, why do I believe?

I believe because of Creation itself.

The beauty of our world and the intricacy of its workings are evidence to me of the existence of a creative God, whose signature marks all His masterpieces.

I believe because God’s love is transformative.

I have witnessed, in my own life and the lives of others, His amazing power to heal what is broken, and to inspire deep and lasting change in human hearts. I’ve seen friends and loved ones conquer addictions and combat mental illness. I’ve seen myself grow from anxious, unhappy, and doubtful, to self-assured and purposeful. God gives meaning to our lives and direction to our hearts.

I believe because God has rescued me from my own depths of fear and doubt.

My faith has been shaken before; I know the emptiness of a heart closed off, separated from God. That emptiness, and the joy I know now, having been brought through that season of my life, prove to me that God is not only real but active. Sometimes faith is a choice; when I sought God despite my fears and trusted Him to deliver me, He revealed himself to me—tenuous though my faith was, He made it whole. He has spoken into my life with peace and assurance that can never be put into words.

I believe because of the fleeting nature of this world and its pleasures.

We humans crave the eternal. There’s a space inside each of us that begs to be satisfied, so we seek things like money, love, knowledge—all things that, once achieved, never fail to tarnish—to try and fill it. We indulge self-destructive behaviors in a continuous struggle to renew that sense of fulfillment—finding ourselves, without God, wandering aimlessly through cycle after cycle. Our eternal souls will never be satisfied with the temporal; only God’s boundless, infinite love can fill us.

I believe because I see the sadness and pain and confusion that comes from chasing all these perishable things.

I see the damage sin wreaks in my life, and the lives of those I love. This turmoil points me back to the God who knows us—knows our desires, our hopes, our needs—and who has the only right solution to the problem of our pain. He calls us to reject instant gratification—the most human of impulses—and leave behind the hollow pleasures of this world in pursuit of something greater.

I believe because goodness exists.

We all know, deep down, what is good and what is not—for ourselves and for those around us. If we are attuned to that innate moral sense, it causes us to react against what we recognize as evil. Where does that knowledge, that conviction come from? It cannot be basic evolution. Evolution favors self-preservation; yet goodness, moral awareness, inclines us toward love—true, self-sacrificing love. We may not always practice it, but nevertheless we recognize that such love is desirable and ideal. It makes no evolutionary sense to value unselfish and unconditional, sacrificial love—which leads me to believe that not only is there a God, but that He is good, and has written His love on our hearts.

Most of all, I believe because Jesus is extraordinary.

Suspend your disbelief for a moment, and just think about it. The God of whom Christianity teaches is perfect and incorruptible, omnipotent and omnipresent, creator and giver of all life. A being like that has unquestionable authority over all He has created. He could have justifiably turned his back on us, the creatures that so often do just that to Him, leaving us to suffer alone in exile from His presence. But He loves us. And so much so that He came to earth, to live a life completely human and completely God, to be tempted yet remain sinless, to suffer and die, a blameless substitute in place of we who rightly deserve punishment. And He calls us to relationship with Him, all because of HIS LOVE. For me. For you. Forever.

God is above egotism—He does not demand material appeasement, but already having true ownership over all things, wants us simply to turn over what is rightfully His. To lose ourselves, and in so doing, to find our true nature, our true purpose and fulfillment, in Him—and be set free. A God like that, whose perfect goodness places him so highly above all else, but who has humbled himself to save even me, a sinner, truly cannot be found anywhere else, nor be manufactured by human design. He is, truly, one of a kind. That’s the God I know.