How do you know whether or not your faith in God is true?

Q:

How do you know whether or not your faith in God is true? Maybe "God" is just an idea that people dreamed up because they couldn't make sense of the world otherwise. I wish I had your faith, but I have too many doubts.


A:

Let me ask you a very direct question: Do you honestly want answers to your doubts, or are you simply using them as an excuse to keep God out of your life? In other words, are you seeking answers to your doubts with an open mind and heart — or are you content to keep them around without ever bothering to find any answers?

Why do I ask you this? The reason is because often, I’ve found, a person’s real problem isn’t some deep intellectual question or doubt they’ve never had answered. The real problem is a matter of the will: They want to run their own life instead of asking God to take control of it. Could this be true of you?

Instead, I urge you to seek answers to your questions. You aren’t the first person to ask them; godly men and women throughout the ages have wrestled with them in a far deeper way than you have. And yet they didn’t abandon their faith in Christ. In fact, they found that the Bible’s words are true: In Christ alone “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Your local Christian bookstore can suggest some helpful resources.

But I hope you won’t only find answers to your questions, but that you’ll act on what you find by committing your life to Jesus Christ. May Jesus’ words speak to you: “If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” (John 8:46).