We are at the end of the study of the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds. It has been a long journey, one in which we looked at how the creeds came about and at their components.
We have also studied the story and the stories behind the elements within the creeds. Even for me, this humble writer, the results were eye-opening.
I don’t claim to know everything about theology. Goodness, no. I can’t even come close to understanding the heart and mind and will of God. But, this I know: I believe.
And, in the end, it all comes down to that, doesn’t it. It all comes down to faith.
But faith is hard. Not so much the having of faith. Having faith is like having pretty much anything else in life. A book, let’s say. Purchase it and put it on a shelf if you’d like and then forget about it. It won’t do you much good there. It’ll become dusty and musky and won’t serve it’s purpose, but it’s still yours.
Like a book should be read and enjoyed, faith has to be taken out and exercised. Daily, for sure, but especially in the difficult times. Those days and nights when it seems that every breath drawn will be your last. When it feels as though life itself has lost its meaning, the road we must take is just too bumpy and narrow or too dim to travel.
Times when life simply turns upside down and doesn’t make sense.
Yet, we say “we believe.” Specifically, we say “I believe.”
The Modern Classic called Narnia
If you haven’t seen “Narnia,” you should. When I watched it, I fought an overwhelming urge to stand and cheer as Aslan broke through the chains of death and again when the war was fought and won on the battlefield. I also wanted to kneel when he made his first appearance. Incredible.
I fell in love with Jesus all over again, to be quite honest with you. My faith—which has taken a beating lately—was renewed, albeit a little.
Sometimes a little is all we need. Other times we need so much more than that.
So, let’s be honest. Faced with such overwhelming odds as the White Witch and her minions, could you have rushed into that fight? We say we can when a war is not blazing about us, but then suddenly—without so much as a warning or a bugle call—we’re smack in the middle of it. Then it’s a whole new ballgame. We are forced to remind ourselves what we believe.
Why we believe.
In Whom we believe.
The End of the Creeds
The end of the creeds begins pretty much the same way as they begin: I/we believe.
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
There are times when all we have is the Word of God and the words from our own mouths. “I believe...we acknowledge…we look for….” We hold on to what we know for sure happened (that Jesus came, that He lived, that He died, and was resurrected) but we cling desperately to what is and what will be.
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
(Revelation 4:8, emphasis mine)
It’s important to say what you believe. To voice is out loud. At times to voice it loudly. To remind yourself and those around you that you believe…you really do believe. Not in a fairy tale or a classic novel laden with biblical overtones. Narnia is not real. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie do not exist outside the imagination of C. S. Lewis and those who have been captivated by his story. But life is real and heaven and earth are real and so is hell. And Jesus. Jesus is so very real.
Knowing that…and saying that…and believing that is, at times, all we need…
…to believe.
Award-winning national speaker
Jesus: Above and Beyond Any Other
Creed: Do You Believe In Three?