by: Cris Corzine-McCloskey
Faith is strange. Sometimes it’s so tangible we feel bulletproof. Then, a tragedy occurs, and we are left wondering if God exists. If that’s never been you, quit reading. This one is for those of who have had their faith shattered, and have wondered if God is real.
My faith rests on having satisfactory answers to two questions; is God real, and if He’s real, does He care? If I go to science or circumstances for answers, I come away more puzzled. Neither satisfies my soul or intellect. But when I look at history, I find the Nazarene.
Jesus is what I can’t rationalize away. He is not a made up character; there are historical accounts of His life, death, and the empty tomb. People who claimed to see Him after His resurrection were willing to die for that belief. History has validated His existence, His claims to be God, and the mystery of the empty tomb.
So I ask myself, liar, charlatan, madman, or God? He backed His claim to be God with very public miracles. If He was a liar he would not have been able to perform the miraculous, so that one doesn’t hold up. Charlatan? Maybe. But that would require elaborate staging and people willing to die to back a lying illusionist. Last I checked, no one is willing to die for David Copperfield. So that option doesn’t hold up, either.
As a therapist, there is no way I can even consider the madman option. I am state certified to spot crazy, but as we all know, that’s one thing you don’t need a license for. The disciples lived with Him. If Jesus’ cheese was not firmly affixed to His cracker, they would have bailed. They were recorded as asking “who is this man?!” but they never questioned His sanity. No, He could not have been crazy.
That leaves one option. He was who He said He was. He was/is God. That means that God is real. He walked around with skin on to prove it to us. Jesus’ death and resurrection also answer the second question that anchors my faith; God cares. Jesus cared enough to die for us. God cared enough to set the whole thing in motion. John 3:16 says that God loves us so much He sent Jesus so even when we die, we don’t die, we have eternal joy and peace with Him who loves us.
There you have it, the anchor of my faith is Jesus. I can’t rationalize Him away, even during the darkest hours of my faith. I also believe nothing can separate us from His love. Not sin, not death, not even our crisis of faith. If He wasn’t holding that crucifixion thing against us, I think He’s a whole lot more understanding than what we give Him credit.
And I bet my life on His faithfulness. He is faithful to us, even when we have lost faith in Him. It says so in 2 Timothy 2:13. He will not and cannot, forsake us in our weakness. If His death could not keep Him from us, neither can our human frailties. So, if you are in a weak place, I ask you to reach out and get some help. But remember, no matter what you are feeling, He is still faithful. He is real, and He really cares.
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