Based on John 6:27-40 (New King James Version)
“‘Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.’ Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’ Therefore they said to Him, ‘What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’”
Everyone chooses to either believe in someone or something, because we were simply made with that capacity and function. It is something that is inevitable. Even the hardest of atheists that say they don’t believe in absolutely nothing believe in something or someone. If they refuse to believe in God, or in some sort of deity, then by default, they come to believe at the very least in themselves, in their intellect. So then, if we understand that each person, by default, comes to believe in something, then everyone has the ability (per se) for faith.
Like we have explained many times before, each person has the capacity for faith, and a lot of faith. The person that says that they do not have much faith is not very observant, and moreover, they use their faith for things, or do things, that can be considered quite scary. Logic goes hand in hand with divine faith. Let’s meditate a bit on what many people that say that they don’t have faith do on daily basis; and with this, I’m giving you fair warning because we are going to get into very personal things here.
One of the things that is mostly practiced today is sexual liberty, and what I am referring to is all sexual acts that are outside of the marriage, whether it relates to single people or married people that have affairs. The Bible refers to this as fornication. The majority of people practice this, of having sexual relationships with different people (we won’t get into the issue of homosexuality, lesbianism, etc., because that is something that goes beyond fornication, and of course, for worse). In the US, before graduating from high school, 62% of students have already had sex. And of course, the numbers jump even higher for when they turn into adults. Within those that have “healthier” practices are the people that have sexual relationships with people they are dating or that are having something a little deeper (before marriage). And they do it for many different reasons. The big problem with this is that yes, it is sin before the eyes of God, but also, there are logical reasons for what it is wrong (because God is the most logical being that exists). There are people that are always washing their hands and disinfecting themselves, but yet, they are able to have intimacy with people they barely know, exchanging bodily fluids and allowing themselves to be touched, without any concern. There are people that hate using a public restroom, but yet, they get intimately involved with people that use those same public restrooms that they fear, and of course, thereby exposing their bodies to the most intimate contact with the filth they fear. Just using statistics that relate to the US (because statistics are much worse in other countries), according to American Sexual Health Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every two people (50%) that are sexually active ”will contract” a sexually transmitted infection (STI) before the age of 25. Almost 20 million new cases of STIs occur each year, and 10 million of them occur among young people between the ages of 15-24. Today, 25% of all Americans have an “incurable” STI; that’s 1 out of every 4 people. 85% of Americans that have herpes (about 42 million people) don’t know that they have it. With all of this, and no matter what precautions a person takes, even while trying to keep a monogamous relationship, what can ensure someone that they won’t catch something, or that they might already have something and not know it? And yet, many choose to believe that a small piece of material over their bodies will protect them completely, like if it was some sort of magic forcefield that will keep them safe from any sicknesses and uncleanliness.
And well, we could even talk about things that could be even more dangerous, by getting involved with a stranger; sharing intimate moments with them when a person is most vulnerable physically. Have the people that have invited strangers into their beds thought that they might get someone who is mentally unstable, or a murderer? Don’t they think that their contraceptive methods might fail, and that someone might just get pregnant? Don’t they think that the other person that is getting intimately involved with them might have ulterior motives? The majority of people do have bad intentions, especially when it involves sexual relations. There are many real risks involved. But, the majority of people don’t even think about one of these things before getting involved with someone. They would much rather believe in their instincts (or just go with the moment), in their intellect, in the other person, in so many things that are fallible, limited, untrustworthy, or even unknown and insecure, and yet, they “cannot” come to believe in God like they should.
The problem with disbelief is this: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36. And the simple reason for why a person “cannot” come to believe is explained by the Bible in this manner: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:18-21. So then, the problem is not lack of faith, but rather, a person not wanting to change and leave sin behind; and that’s it.
If the Lord is not believed in as is necessary, there is no salvation, no forgiveness, and no life. And a person exposes themselves to all the evils that sin brings, because sin only brings destruction, sooner or later. So then, do you believe, as you need to, in Jesus and in what He teaches so that you can have life and have it abundantly? Lord bless! John