Developing Real Faith

I don’t think there was ever a time that I didn’t “believe” in the existence of God, but it got me wondering about the big difference between believing and faith.  Are human beings born with the knowledge of him, or is it acquired along the way?  In my case the most logical explanation was that my parents had planted the deity seed in my head. As a child I never ran into resistance from atheists, and the society we lived in, and the church we attended sparingly watered the seed.  That said, the roots of my little  plant didn’t go very deep. I didn’t really “believe” in God as much as casually accepting him. Everyone around me seemed to feel pretty much the same way, so I never pursued it any further. I placed him on a shelf, like a dusty, old, broken  clock.

So then, what causes one to leave that ho hum state, and enter into real faith?   I can‘t prove it, but I think that God has created a built-in curiosity about him in every human being.  At some point that curiosity kicks in and causes us to seek out information on the Him. You can’t learn Spanish by osmosis, and you can’t truly believe in God without learning all you can about him.  Then, like any good student, ask questions, hard ones, put him to the test, don’t just passively accept.  You need to be certain of what you believe in, and why.  God will then ask you what your decision is on Him.  Is he real, dependable and worthy of our faith or not.  There are only 2 answers.  How sure are you of your faith?  What is it based on, and what is it made of?  He offers all that we need to develop that faith in his word, but the decision to believe is ours alone. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17. Get into the Word, and develop real faith!