Taken from "Get Real, Get Ready, Get Going", by Michael Ross

You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry hose, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
-Nehemiah 9:6

GET REAL!

Vanessa takes a giant gulp of coffee and slouches at the table. She suddenly wishes she could disappear.

"So let me get this straight,Vanessa," her cousin Ashley blurts out in front of all her friends. "You're a smart, modern-kinda girl, yet you actually believe in an invisible God - not to mention all those fairy-tale Bible stories?!"

'Oh great,' VAnessa thinks, 'a theological debate right here in the middle of the donut shop.' The uneasy sixteen-year-old squeaks out a feeble "Uh-huh" between bites of her favorite donut, then locks eyes with Ashley.

"It's like I already told you a million times," Vanessa says, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Believing in God and knowing him personally is a heart thing, not a head thing. If your heart is hardened toward him, then none of it will make sense to you."

Vanessa glances nervously across the resaurant, praying that her pushy relative will drop the subject. She can feel her other friends staring at her.

"All right," Ashley says, "what if I tell you that Santa Claus is here right now. He's eating a jelly-filled pastry at teh table next to us." The other girls laugh. Ashley sneers.

"You can't see him because he's invisible," she continues. "But he talked to me. He told me that it's a sin to eat the particular type of donut you're chomping... and he wants you to stop. Do you believe me?"

Vanessa rolls her eyes. "Okay... I've been patient with you, but now this conversation has gotten way too weird."

"Come on, answer this question," Ashley presses. "A simple yes or no."

"Umm,no," Vanessa says. "are you happy? Will you drop the whole thing and let us eat our donuts in peace?"

Ashley smiles smugly. "yes... now I can," she says. "Now that you understand why I can't believe in your God any more than you can believe in my Santa."

Vanessa notices the smirk on each of her friends' faces. They all seem to be siding with Ashley, even the girl who sometimes shows up at youth group. The teen wishes she could think of some way of proving God's existence to her skeptical cousin - but she just can't come up with the right words.

'I know exactly what they're thinking,' Vanessa tells herself. "What a dweeb!"


It's little wonder that Vanessa is frustrated. God's existence can't be proven - at least not scientifically.

For that matter, we can't prove the existence of some of God's more famous human creations: people like C. S. Lewis, George Washington, or King Tut. Photographs, dollar bills, and ancient artwork provide evidence that these humans existed, but not proof. Evidence points to fact. Proof assers a fact irrefutably.

On the other hand, we can put a drop of blood under a microscope and, through observation, give irrefutable proof (what scientists call empirical proof) of the identity of the fluid. We can even match it to a specific human or animal. But we can't give empirical proof that God exists.

The weight of historical evidence, however, not only makes it possible to believe in God's existence, it makes it difficult not to believe.

GET READY

-Exodus 3:1-15: What does this passage tell you about God's character?

-1 John 4:16: If God is love, why do you think you sometimes behave in "unlovely" ways?

-Revelation 21:1-8 What must you do to inherit the kingdom?

GET GOING

God is who he is. I doubt that arm-twisting or eloquent speeches can convince a nonbelieving friend that all of creation belongs to God. (In fact, arm-twisting and eloquent speeches aren't exactly God's style.) Transforming a hardened heart is actually the work of God himself. Besides, proving his existence isn't as important as telling the world what you know of his awesome nature:

God is sovereign Lord of Scripture who speaks to humankind through his Word, acts in his creation and in history, and involves himself in the lives of his people.
God is the Sheperd who guides (Gen. 48:15), the Lord who provides (Gen 22:8), the Lord of peace during life's storms (Judg. 6:24), the Physician who heals the sick (Exod. 15:26), and the Banner that guides the soldier (Exod. 17:8-16).
God is the Alpha and the Omega, "the beginning and the end" (Rev. 1:8)
God is Immanuel, "God with us" (Isa. 7:14).
God is our Father (Isa. 9:6)
God is holy (1 Sam. 2:2)
God is love (1 John 4:16)
God is I AM (Exod. 3:14)

GET GOING!