I can’t prove the Gospel, but here’s why I believe it

I don’t believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ because I can piece together enough proof to convince me that it is true.

I believe it because I want to believe it.

No matter how much proof we gather, no matter how strong a case we form, our beliefs always come down to what we want to believe.

I want to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so I do. This is faith.

But if you pressed me to give you reasons to believe the Gospel, I would give you two that mean a lot to me.

The first is that I see the Gospel every day in nature.

The sun sets at night (death) and rises every morning (resurrection).

Autumn and winter (death) give way to spring and summer (resurrection).

A seed goes into the ground (death) and a flower or fruit tree comes up in its place (resurrection).

I even see the Gospel in my own body. Every day, billions of my cells die (death) and billions of new cells are born (resurrection).

The second reason I believe the Gospel is that I see how imperfections (death) turn into life and love that seem just perfect (resurrection).

Last night, I went to my father-in-law’s funeral. In the words of his son who eulogized him, he was an “imperfect man.” As he tried to figure out how to live and love–something all of us are trying to figure out in our own ways–he, like each one of us, got a lot wrong.

And yet, an auditorium was full of people who loved him not just in spite of his imperfections, but even because of them. And they love each other because of him. All that love made whatever he got wrong (death) turn out right for all of us together (resurrection).

We went to the funeral because my father-in-law died, but when I looked around the room, it was clear to me that he was more alive than ever.

I can’t prove the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you.

But I can tell you why I want to believe it.

Now you know.

Grace and peace.