I have a simple faith. There’s nothing particularly complicated about it. It’s pretty straightforward.
I believe in God. I believe He created the heavens and the earth. He created everything. That’s just the way it is. The more we study the world around us, the more we see how exactly designed it is. God created it. He made it.
If He made it, then He gets to make the rules. Fair enough. If I make the cookies, I get to say what goes into them. If I want chocolate chips — which I do — then I add them. And if I make them, then I get to say who eats them, how many they can have, when they can have them — after dinner, a healthy dinner. I make the rules.
God makes the rules for His creation. He wanted fellowship, so He made us. He wanted pure, true fellowship, the real kind. So He set up some rules. And we broke the rules, like it or not. But He still loved us. He still loves us.
We broke the rules. Now what? When rules are broken, there are consequences. That’s pretty obvious to most of us, right? And sometimes the consequences are more severe than we’re able to pay. The consequences of breaking God’s rules are such.
So God took the consequences. He took the punishment on Himself. He paid the price. It’s like we stole the cookies and He paid them back with His own. And the rules are, if He pays back our cookies, then we follow His ways.
We give up our rights just like He gave up His. When we do that, we get that fellowship, that pure, true, real fellowship.
And that’s that. That’s how it works. That’s my simple faith.
When bad things happen, or things I don’t want, I remember my Maker. And I remember He makes the rules. I remember that the rules were broken. I remember that He patched things up. I remember that He gave up His cookies — and probably didn’t like that very much — and asks me to give up mine. And now we’re together. Forever. Because He loves me, and loves fellowshipping with me.
That’s my simple faith. It all comes back to that. Fellowship, cookies, humility, and love.