In the 1960s, the pop group ‘the Batchelors’ had more top ten hits than the Beatles, one of which was the song ‘I Believe’. The lyrics of that song show how people can believe all kinds of different things; in the Karni Mata temple in Rajasthan, India, more than 25,000 black rats are venerated as gods and people believe that to eat food touched by the rats will result in spiritual blessing. Belief can be very subjective; some people feel that they can believe anything they want whilst others adopt a syncretic approach (amalgamating different beliefs from different religions into a very personal belief which can be confusing to others.)
As Christians, we need to be careful about what we believe and why we believe. If a belief is true and real, it will have an effect on our behaviour and lives. Rom 12:1 reminds us that belief in a God who gave Himself for us is reasonable (‘logikos’), but few people are actually won over to Christ through reason alone. 2 Pet 1:16 reminds us of the personal nature of belief: Peter describes himself as an eyewitness of God’s majesty, and it is true that God wants us to witness to others through the power of our story, as with the demoniac who was delivered by Jesus and told to return home to tell others how much God had done for him (see Luke 8:23-39). We are called to be witnesses to all that God has done for us (Acts 1:8); we need to practise telling our story and explaining our beliefs.
Belief will inevitably spill over into actions (see James 2:14-18). If it does not, then it is not genuine faith. We see how belief has the power to transform individuals, communities and the whole world; there is much historical evidence to point to the transforming power of the gospel. Not all beliefs are equal, for true faith must rest on truth (Jn 14:6 reminds us that Jesus is the only way to God, for example), and whilst there is power in all faith, the real power comes when faith is based on truth, because then it is allied to the power of God. (1 Cor 2:5)
