I Believe

the word "faith" has been much on my mind over the past few days.  during his life on earth, Jesus spoke often of faith and belief.  there are those who teach that bad things happen to us because we don't have enough faith, that one's failure to prosper is the result of a lack of faith, that one is overcome by sickness or financial problems by insufficient faith.  i reject that teaching completely.  this morning as i prayed, i asked God to lead me to a deeper understanding of what faith is and how we experience a life of faith.  i was moved to begin making a list of the things that i believe, the things that are the basis of my faith, and i want to share some of those core beliefs in this post.

• i believe that God is the prime cause of all that is, that God set the laws of nature in motion, causing all of creation to exist.
• i believe that God loves what God caused to exist.
• i believe that God desires only good for God's creation.
• i believe that evil exists because of our failure to embrace that good that is God.
• i believe that inside each person is the capacity for both good and evil, that what God has created cannot be evil, but one's choices can result in evil.
• i believe that God is always present, ready to assist us when we call on God.
• i believe that God allows us the freedom to ignore God's presence, but that God is constantly at work calling us to that which is good.
• i believe that God is in and around us everywhere.
• i believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the embodiment of all that is good in God's creation.
• i believe that service and worship are so closely entwined that the two cannot be separated.
• i believe that God has provided many paths for us to discover God's nature, that God is much larger than the narrow confines of any one path.
• i believe that each of us is an immortal soul.

as i continue to explore what i believe and to think about what "having faith" means, i know that God will lead me towards the truth God wants me to experience.  my prayer for each of us today is that we experience the faith that God leads us to embrace and that as we follow the path before us, we experience the joy of serving God through serving others.