Learning from Leo

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

Some hang their being on their not believing in God. Sometimes I get frustrated with God because the divine One does not make it easy to believe in holy existence, let alone worthiness. For those who think the words “I just know and believe” ring hollow. For the unbelieving, prayer isn’t communication with an interested deity but simply talking to oneself as a form of false comfort. I cannot relate to the insistence that God must not exist because our weak minds cannot prove something so far beyond our recognition.

My only alternative is to turn to others. In “Is Life Worth Living?” Philip Temple asks the valuable question, “Is Life Worth Living?” First, he struggles with the big questions including, “do we exist in a materialistic universe?” Next, temple focuses on another person who grappled with similar issues, Leo Tolstoy. Temple emphasized two aspects of Tolstoy’s struggle to believe. “1. That a purely secular life has no real meaning,” and “2. That it was only when you realized some greater truth, beyond secular existence that life takes on this greater meaning.”

Tolstoy realized life is meaningless apart from belief and communion with God. Yet, it remains that need does not create a proof of the existence of a higher power. The secularist might say, “Life must be meaningless, but that doesn’t change reality.” Rather than get stuck in this painful and unhelpful cycle trying to prove unprovable, leaving the line of open communication is essential.

Finally, rather than seek to prove God to those struggling, we should be called to hand the situation over to God. Not once in over two thousand years has anyone “brought someone to Christ.” Only God can bring someone to Christ. Our role is to model our faith by setting a worshipful, prayerful, and missional example. Further, we should not judge because judgment pushes people away rather than sustaining relationships. While we do not bring anyone to Christ, we can be used by God to be there as a listener and loving examples. When we hand others’ beliefs over to God, we can relax and let the One with the power to transform take responsibility.