When I first sank my teeth into Chick-Fil-A chicken minis, I knew there was a God. When I first laid eyes on that cute blond from Wisconsin, I knew there was a God. And when I held my baby boy in my arms for the very first time, I knew there was a God.
Maybe you’ve been there too. Yet, while there are many instances where we see God clearly, there are just as many where we ask, “Is there a God?”
True confessions: I’ve been a believer all my life. I received a seminary degree. I’ve served as a Pastor for almost twenty years. Yet, there are times I ask, “God, where are you? Are you there?” Like when Lyndsay and I had all those heartbreaking miscarriages.
Like me, maybe you experienced loss. You lost a job or a loved one. Or you witnessed pain and suffering and you ask, “Why would a ‘loving’ God allow this to happen?”
Or maybe you say, “I really can’t bring myself to believe something I cannot see, touch, or hear. I need proof.”
Or maybe you say, “I just don’t want to be held back by a set of rules.”
I mean, let’s give ourselves some credit here right? We are pretty self-sufficient beings. “Needing” God seems like a sign of weakness and kind of a “crutch.” Besides, you don’t have to believe in God to be a good person, right?
Also, I heard a friend recently say, “The Bible seems unreliable archaic and outdated. What does something written so long ago have anything to do with today?”
What about hypocrisy? Author Brennan Manning said it best, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
I want you to hear me: Whatever you’ve been through that is causing your unbelief, I’m so sorry. You are validated in the way you feel. It’s ok to be there. But as a loving friend, listen: it’s not ok to stay there.
The implications of what we believe are too significant, both with how we live today and with where we will live forever.
While I can’t prove the existence of God, I can provide some pretty strong evidence. And by the way, in a court of law, convincing evidence (not proof) is all the jury needs to make a decision.
#1. LOGIC says that if something exists, something or someone caused it to exist. Plato calls this “the ultimate maker” and Aristotle “the first mover.”
In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul encountered an inscription in Athens that said, “To the unknown God.” Even the idol worshippers in Athens believed there was “something else” out there! Paul says to them, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (v. 24).
Something exists. Nothing cannot cause something. Therefore, there must be an independent creator.
#2. SCIENCE for some reason has been separated from faith. I believe they are joined at the hip and one in the same. Even Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.”
Paul goes on to say this same God “gives everyone life and breath and everything else” (v. 25). This “unknown God” is not only an independent creator, but He’s an intelligent designer.
The beauty of the valleys and mountains and sunsets and oceans are not here by happenstance. Our universe is too complex to just appear “poof” out of nowhere. If the distance of the moon from the earth, the salt content of the ocean, and the size of the Earth were adjusted slightly, we wouldn’t exist.
As humans, we are not mass produced. Each of us are handcrafted by an intelligent designer who knitted us together with unique genetic codes. Any basic knowledge of the human brain or eyeball will tell you it is simply ridiculous to believe we evolved over time by natural selection. Even Darwin eventually admitted, “…to think we could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
The universe has a complex design. Design implies a designer. The evidence is there. It’s up to us to decide.
#3. EXPERIENCE is the final bit of evidence God exists. Paul brings it home saying, “God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from anyone of us” (v. 27).
My daughter and I were playing “hide and seek” the other day. As I finished counting she calls out, “Dad, I’m over here!”
Friends, there is a God and He wants to be found. He is explorable and searchable. He isn’t dodging us or concealing Himself. And He not only wants you to know He exists, but that He loves you and wants a relationship with you. The truth is millions upon millions of people have experienced God’s loving presence. So either they are delusional or really have encountered the one true living God.
If you do believe in God, do you know about Him or do you really know Him personally? I want to challenge you: Expect to see Him each day. Set aside your critical spirit and read the Bible like a child. Don’t just ask questions and express doubts, explore and search and read and listen.
And may your life be the most powerful evidence that God exists. When people see your life and the way you love others, may they say, “Yes, there is a God.”