CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? OMG.

For a moment, put aside any preconceptions of what religious bias (for/against/otherwise) you may have. Just for a moment. Can you? Come on, give it a try. Leave the world of reactionary politics, marketing and whether or not AI is taking over the world and indulge me as I share a short exposition of a simple verse.

“. . . neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith activated and expressed and working through love.” Galatians 5:6, AMP

At the time of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Christians raised under Judaic law were at odds with Christians raised under Roman law. They argued about whether the Christians who had never been circumcised ought to be so now that they had come into relationship with Christ through faith.

Paul’s answer—and this is the Apostle Paul, mind you, the one who made a lot of strong statements regarding laws that today’s society is up in arms about—is that none of that matters. What matters, he says, is faith working through love.

So, gathering back up those preconceived notions, tell me, what do you think faith is?

Many simply say it is believing what cannot be seen.

Do you believe in anything you cannot see?

Many people swear they’ll never do such a thing. We need to see it. Touch it. Verify its validity in a double-blinded, randomized trial, or no, make that a preponderance of evidence through many such trials conducted by various organizations who have nothing to gain from the outcome, one way or the other. Right?

Perhaps we scientific-minded people believe in what we cannot see more than we think we do. We haven’t seen the air, but we believe it enough to breathe it in when we come up from a swim. We haven’t seen distant galaxies that we believe exist beyond our current capacity to see. We haven’t seen hatred or greed, but we see many things said and done that we’ll easily label as stemming from hatred or greed. We share an internal sense of what’s right and wrong regarding many things.

I think it is safe to say that we all exercise faith. . . believing what is not seen. . . every day.

So the question isn’t really if we believe in the unseen. It’s what we believe about the unseen.

What do you believe about God? Do you believe God is good, loving, judgmental, indifferent, uninvolved, uncaring, nebulous, or something else entirely?

What do you believe about the unseen parts of yourself? Do you believe you are a worthwhile person, valuable, capable and lovable? Do you believe your neighbor is, too?

If you do, it will show by your loving kindness in action. If you don’t, it will show by your unloving words and actions.

Here’s what I think. Let’s see if you agree.

If, in the deepest places of my heart, mind, and soul, I believe that I am fully loved, accepted and forgiven, and that I have an important role here on Earth to fulfill in loving others, then I’m more likely to take good care of myself and show patience, love and kindness to others.

If, in the deepest places of my heart, mind, and soul, I believe that I am shameful, rejected and destined to pay for all of my wrongs and shortcomings if I don’t make up for them, then I will more likely see my role here on Earth (if any at all) is to either earn love and acceptance by the great things I do, or to tear down those around me so they’re all exposed for being worse than me, thus taking the pressure off responsibility for my own shortcomings (like a kid who hands the crayon to his little sister after writing on the wall. . . “I didn’t do it, Mom, she did.”)

If this is true, imagine how it could explain the futile nature of religions and governments that seek to control the masses, hide the radical nature of the Gospel, and meanwhile, benefit from their obligatory contributions? If this is what athiests and others rebel against, then bravo to them. They have a valid complaint. But what if even the rebels operate from their own misguided beliefs about themselves and are caught up in pointing the finger to prove themselves better, too?

What if God IS love? That unseen power of goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control? That holy compassion that stoops to help another, that advocates for the downtrodden, that repairs a breech?

If God is Love, does it matter so much who obeys which law, when or how? Or is Love more concerned with exposing and repairing the inner beliefs that undergird our behavior?

What do you think?