Only faith in a loving God can truly answer the fundamental and deepset needs of the human heart. And yet how different are religious folk from their secular brothers and sisters?
Without faith in a loving Father God;
Without the good news of the Gospel;
Without the pure love sacrifice of Jesus;
Without hope in an eternal haven of bliss;
Life, with all its ups and downs, and finality,
Is but a dreary continuum. While it lasts…
If we have no belief in a loving God,
Then our deepest desires have no fulfilment.
Deep down and universal in the human soul,
Is yearning for happiness, and that for ever.
While there is never a proof for God,
These desires belie a Creator’s blueprint.
With faith, and faith in the God of Jesus,
We can validate what is set within the heart.
We can face our truth, and journey inwards,
To experience something beyond the mundane.
This is not some virtual reality entertainment:
It is vibrant reality – not peripheral but core.
Without God, we might face life with purpose,
Assuming we are lucky enough to be born fit.
While some folk enjoy the best of things,
Others are snuffed out before they get a chance.
Yet no one’s life, no matter how privileged,
Is guaranteed against the vagaries of fate.
Contradict me if you can – show me brother, sister,
Where is complete security of life and limb?
Where is joy that’s little more than transitory?
Where self-giving love doesn’t entail vulnerability?
But this is life, I hear you say, and better
To face it than to live some airy fairy pipe dream!
A challenge then to all who might reject God:
To truly face life in all its many vicissitudes,
And to fully give oneself in pregnable loving;
Can you offer more than tea and sympathy?
Can you give real hope where there seems none?
And what is your answer to death’s sharp sting?
We live the future through our children, you say:
That’s the only immortality given to human kind.
Yet our children are not extensions of our selves;
Nor are they beholding to us – temporary guests,
Who grace our lives as persons in themselves.
Such an immortality is poor substitute indeed.
Only in and through God do we find ourselves.
And yet… a challenge to all who claim belief:
Are you any different from those who have no hope?
Do you live life and love’s maelstrom any better?
Does your witness speak of a better way? Or,
Is your religion little more than a dreary continuum?