“These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
JOHN 20:31Who is God that we should believe in Him?
God has made us and all creatures. He has given us a body and soul, our reason and all our senses. He daily continues to take care of us. He abundantly provides us with things like clothing, food, home, family, property, animals, and anything else we need to sustain our body and life. He protects us from danger and guards us from evil. All this He does as a father to us, without any merit on our part but purely out of His divine love and mercy, to which we respond with our praise, service, and obedience.
Who is Jesus that we should trust in Him?
Jesus Christ is our Lord. He is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. We were lost and condemned creatures, but Jesus has redeemed us, purchased and delivered us from sin, death and the power of the devil, not with gold and silver but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. He is now risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. All this He has done so that He would be our Lord and we would be His own, living under Him in His kingdom and serving Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.
How do we know this to be true?
It is not by our own reasoning or power that we can believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and come to Him. The Holy Spirit calls us to faith through the Gospel and enlightens us with His gifts. The Spirit sanctifies and keeps us with Jesus Christ in this one true faith, along with the whole Christian church on earth. In this church our sins are daily and fully forgiven by God until that day when Christ shall come and raise the dead and give eternal life to us and to all who believe in Him.