What if I'm Wrong?

 

I posted a picture of myself at the Grand Canyon with a lyric to one of my favorite songs. “There are a million mountains that I'd like to climb to get a glimpse at the heart of Your design. So here I stand on what You built, You are surrounding me.” My friend commented with the explanation that the Grand Canyon was created from a river, gravity, and time.

I went on Facebook and saw a link that was shared about the drug DMT which is found in some plants, some toads, and our brains. This chemical is released after we die and “scientists” are saying for those five to six minutes you experience your “eternity”. And that’s it. Then you’re gone.

Before shutting these two ideas down completely with “no, you’re wrong”. I let myself wonder what if I was the one who was wrong. What if my God is not real nor has he ever been. What if Jesus wasn’t the man He is and the man I know. What if the world WAS created from a “big bang”? What if this world really is it and then we rot in the ground? What if there is no hope and this world is “just for a good time”?  What if what I’ve lived for and pursued for my entire life is nothing but a “flowery idea just to make me feel better” like I have been told so many times in my past. What if all the time I’ve spent praying to my savior, creator, father was really just a waste of time and a bunch of empty words. What if the world really has been here for 5 billion years and evolution is the reality. What if the Bible I hold so dearly to me and have studied is just a book of stories with no meaning.

After all, faith is just that...faith, right?

The more I thought of all of the objections I’ve gotten regarding my faith over my lifetime the more and more I became more confident in my God.

Everyone lives a different life and has a different set of experiences. Everyone sees the world in a different light and with a different purpose. Some people believe in “YOLO” and others believe in dying and being reincarnated. Even those who say they believe in nothing believe in something. Every person on this planet wants answers.

I was raised in a Christian family with generation after generation of pastors. My parents read the Bible every day to us and we prayed before every meal. I went to Sunday School, then church Sunday morning, and then again Sunday night, and then again Wednesday night for youth group. I spent hours in my closet in tears telling God about my hopes, dreams, and fears. I studied bible verses that made zero sense and had no meaning to taking that same verse and letting it transform the way I think and see the world.

I was called a Jesus freak throughout my school years. I was called a goodie two shoes and was mocked for my beliefs. I had teachers challenge my faith and give me what they saw as proof of why it was all a lie. I was given F’s on papers because I refused to say something was truth when I knew that there is only one truth and what I was being taught was far from it. I was excluded and made fun of and I would do it all over again. My faith isn’t just merely my opinions, my faith is my life and my faith is who I am. I was blessed to grow in a home founded in Christ, but my faith is something I have chosen for myself.

I don't blindly choose my faith, I searched and studied and have experienced what Jesus can do in so many lives. Jesus is more real than I can begin to attempt to explain. He is my Savior and He is my best friend. He is not someone that can be adequately explained, but can be vividly experienced.

The Bible is not just an empty book, it is a book that is full of historic records. It is the book that has given me the greatest hope and has given me the opportunity to know my Father and has given me guidelines for how He not only wants me to live my life but for how He CREATED me to live my life. He is a mighty God and a loving Father. 

This post is not to explain how He is the one and only Truth, but it is to explain why I'm not "wasting" my life following Him, EVEN if what I believe to be true is not true. 

So for those who feel my faith is just a feel good blanket to give me some type of hope, I have challenged myself to wonder whether or not it would change anything if I was wrong all along.

Asking this question stripped me of everything that makes me who I am.

To be completely honest, it was not easy for me to even entertain the thought of my God not being real and His Word being meaningless, but doing so has strengthened my faith more than I had expected.

 

What if everything I’ve founded my life on is false and nonexistent. What if my grandpa, who was one of the greatest men of faith, never went to heaven and instead when he passed, he was just gone. What if there really is nothing more to this life and no hope for anything greater than myself?

To answer that question simply, I wouldn’t change one thing.

If Jesus didn’t die for my sins and I have no hope for this life, I would do nothing different. Living this life the way I have has allowed me to see the world through a different set of lenses. It’s allowed me to see people on a deeper more vulnerable level and it has given me a greater purpose.

But what if I’m right.

What if Jesus is the savior of the world and the only way to Heaven is through a personal relationship with him? What if Hell is more real than my existence today?

What if I chose not to follow Christ and have the YOLO mindset?

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James 4:14

Life in this world is shorter than we know.  I’d rather believe in something greater than believe in nothing and try to use drugs, sex, and anything else the world has to offer to try to fill the hole that only Jesus can.

Living my life following Christ, I have nothing to lose. But risking my life and eternity away because I’m too prideful to admit there is someone far greater out there and rejecting Him because I can't physically see him seems to be gambling my eternity.

My faith has given me purpose and an indescribable love that no one can understand but through Christ himself. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by choosing Him every minute and every day.

 Asking this question stripped me of everything that makes me who I am and for a split second I felt the emptiness that I once felt when I did not know Him.Imagining life without Him is a scary thought, but imagining an eternity separated from Him is a thought I can't bear. 

Eternity is real and for me is something I thankfully can look forward to because of Jesus Christ.

I'd encourage you to ask yourself the same question. What if YOU'RE wrong?