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Another guest post for you today in my series 'Why am I a Christian?'. This time from Nicola -
I keep trying to write this piece on why I'm a Christian and I keep getting stuck, or sidetracked! It's not that I haven't ever thought about it before - I've probably thought about it too much - it's that there are just so many reasons.
Firstly, I come from a place of philosophy - it's important that what I believe makes sense to me. And I just can't believe that there wasn't a creator of all this intricate creation. I see it this way - I'm a mother and I'm pretty convinced that my 'creations' cannot have things in them that I don't have myself - so if I, as a thinking part of creation, can love, then my Creator, God, must be thinking and loving...
I'm going to leave that one there, otherwise I'll get sidetracked into philosophy and that seems to go on to be something in the nature of a 10,000 word essay.
My second thought is from a place of experience. As I heard someone say once: "...I know that I know that Jesus is real..." It's hard to describe a belief to someone who doesn't have that belief, because inevitably it's something you have to experience by believing it.
That's not to say that we should have a blind belief, belief that is a real belief has to be based on evidence, even if that evidence is the evidence of experience - our own and other people's. I am sitting on my sofa right now, I believe that it will hold me up, that it is comfortable and that it is real - well, actually I'm starting to doubt that it is real - I'm seriously having issues with existentialism and this sofa now; but I am still experiencing that it is comfortable and holding me up so I'm going to trust that it is real based on the evidence that I'm not sitting on the floor.
Okay, have I lost you yet? Probably.. and that's why I've written this whole article about ten times!
To get right down to basics, I can only say this: Jesus is my friend. He has been my friend for as long as I can remember. He is someone I talk to about everything in my life, from the crises to the every day trivia. I ask Him to help me find my lost keys (and many other things I lose frequently) - and He wonderfully does. Because He loves me. Because I love Him. And we are friends.
Sometimes He is just like that kind of friend who listens to all my troubles - and I know He will never tire of me as I fear others might. He gives good advice, He stops me doing stupid things, He reminds me to see things from a different perspectives or someone else's point of view. But more precious than that are the times when I feel He shares with me how He feels about things - how deeply it hurts Him to see the mess we've got His beautiful creation in, His hope and His plan for my life... and for the world. I believe that He wants me to be part of the solution to the problems I see around me and that is a great privilege and an awesome trust - considering what He has already done and how great He is, and how well He knows me (and how often I'm not up to scratch).
So, we are friends. And that is pretty cool, really.
What I believe about God is this: He is love and love NEVER fails. That's an amazing friend to have.
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Mother of five children 10 down to 2 years, Nicola works part-time (paid) in a Welsh publishing company and serves part-time (unpaid) in her local Christian community in rural south Wales. An Enthusiast at heart, she can talk endlessly about posh pens, books of all kinds, theology & philosophy, farming, politics, Albinism, prayer, and, of course, family. She blogs when inspiration hits alternately at The Road Outside, Ask Me About Books & The Goshen Project.
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