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Why believe in God? For some people, that question comes with years of church background and familiar Bible stories. For others, the Bible may seem confusing, distant or even contradictory. That was certainly part of my own experience when I first picked it up. One way I have come to think about Scripture is like an enormous jigsaw puzzle. If we take one isolated piece and try to understand the entire picture from it, we are almost certain to struggle. The Bible needs to be read as a whole, allowing one passage to shed light on another and gradually helping us see the larger picture. That becomes especially important when two verses initially appear difficult to reconcile. We should not dismiss the Bible because one piece does not yet make sense when we have hardly begun to see the picture around it.
Then there is Jesus Himself. Before we even begin to ask whether Jesus is the Son of God, whether He died for our sins, or whether He rose from the dead, there is a simpler question worth considering: was Jesus of Nazareth a real person? His influence upon human history is extraordinarily difficult to avoid. Even the calendar we use today reflects the enormous historical significance attached to His life. Of course, recognising that Jesus existed is not the same thing as believing that He is the Christ. But it gives us somewhere to begin. Rather than dismissing Him because His claims sound extraordinary, perhaps the better response is to ask who this Jesus really was and whether those claims deserve to be examined.
There is another reason the question of belief matters, and it is much more personal. We live surrounded by conflicting opinions, anxiety, pressure, uncertainty and seemingly endless voices telling us what we should fear, believe or become. Beneath all of that are ordinary people carrying very real burdens. Sometimes we do not even recognise how loved we are, how much help is available, or how deeply the pressures of life have begun to weigh upon us. Truth matters because what we believe shapes the way we understand ourselves, the world around us and ultimately the hope we believe is available to us.
That is where Jesus gives an invitation rather than merely an argument. In Matthew 11:28-30, He speaks to people who are weary and burdened: “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The Christian claim is not simply that God exists somewhere beyond us. It is that God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ – the One who died, rose again, and calls us to come to Him. Why believe? Because Christ invites the weary to something this world continually promises but cannot finally provide: peace, rest and hope that reach deeper than our circumstances. That does not remove every difficulty from life, but it gives us Someone in whom we can place our trust when those difficulties come.
Watch or listen to Part 1 of Why Believe? And consider these questions for yourself. You do not need to begin by pretending you already have all the answers – simply be willing to ask the questions and honestly consider where they lead.
