Creator, Father, King #323

It is impossible to please God without faith.

FOR MOST OF ANCIENT history, the majority of human civilizations believed in a higher power. More often than not, cultures that didn’t believe in the one true God of the Bible believed in a deity or pantheon of deities that governed the universe.

But in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a powerful movement swept through Europe. It challenged longstanding views about humanity, nature, science, psychology, ethics, and more. Human reasoning and philosophy came to the forefront.

People began questioning well-established religious beliefs and timeless truths about God. Atheism—the belief that God doesn’t exist—became much more popular. This was a very humanistic age, focusing on the accomplishments and potential of mankind.

We now refer to this period as the Age of Enlightenment, which is bitterly ironic since any culture or era that strays from a biblical worldview is anything but enlightened. On the contrary, minimizing God’s active presence in the universe or outright denying his existence is the epitome of spiritual blindness.

This unenlightened skepticism is thriving today. Spiritual matters seem preposterous to many people because they can’t be measured or quantified. If people can’t see it, they don’t believe in it.

Christians, though, are called to be different. They are called to live by faith.

What’s It Mean?

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (ESV). In other words, faith is believing without seeing.

Atheists say there is no God because there is no empirical evidence—facts that can be verified and observed—to prove his existence. The Bible disputes this. Romans 1:19-20 says that the majesty of creation itself is clear evidence that God exists, and because of it, people “have no excuse for not knowing God” (verse 20).

All the while, we are called to have faith. The Christian life is one of trusting more than what our eyes can see, math can measure, or science can reveal. In the New Testament alone, there are around 250 references to the word “faith.” Consider this sampling:

• We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22)
• You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
• By grace you have been saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8, ESV)

Want true enlightenment? Have faith in your Creator!

Now What?

For more great verses on faith, check out Romans 1:17; Romans 4:5; and Galatians 2:16.

Did You Know?

Deism, the unscriptural belief that a supreme Being created the universe but has let it run itself according to natural laws ever since, surfaced during the Age of Enlightenment.