Once there was a man holding onto a rope dangling off the edge of a tall cliff. He cried out, “Help! Please! Can someone help me?” Suddenly, he heard the voice of God say, “Let go, and I will catch you.” The man, looking down, saw nothing but jagged rocks hundreds of feet below. He considered God’s offer for a few moments and then shouted, “Is anyone else up there?”
The point of the story is that believing in God ultimately requires a leap of faith. The Danish theologian and existentialist philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard wrote about taking a “leap of faith” into the arms of a loving God. This “leap” is not just mental assent to doctrines for which there is no proof, rather, it is the final step in response to a series of evidences for God’s existence.
Even though this leap of faith can be scary and nerve wracking, it is not a leap into a dark abyss but a step into the light. When I married my wife, Jessica, I had never been married before. I knew I was interested in her, even intrigued by her, but I had no concept of what it meant to be married to a girl. Getting married was a real leap into the unknown, but it was one of the best things I ever did. In the same way, when we decide to put our faith in God, it is a leap into a relationship with the One who created you and the universe.
But you must “pull the trigger” to know how wonderful and good the relationship can be. When my son learned to ride his bike, I carefully explained to him how a bike worked and how to stay balanced. He mentally understood how to ride a bike, but at some point, he had to put his foot on the peddle and push off into the unknown. In the same way, at some point the believer must choose to put his or her faith in God. One tiny step is all it takes, but you must take it.
Believing in God comes down to faith. There is enough evidence for God’s existence to justify a person in his or her belief in God. Nonetheless, the very nature of faith requires the unknown. Faith is alive. It is not static. It is existential. Faith is what gets a person across the gap between all the evidence and confident certainty. If you feel you do not have enough faith to believe, it might be helpful to heed the words of the father whose son needed a miracle and said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
The Christian life isn’t just a moment of faith, but a whole lifetime of faith-filled moments. The more I have said, “Yes” to God, the more faith I have to say, “Yes” to Him again. For every leap of faith that life’s moments have brought me, I have always found God on the other side of my faith. Because God has proved Himself faithful to me time and again, when I am faced with new challenges to my faith, I say:
Yes, I DARE to Believe!
Get your copy of Proof God is Real: https://amzn.to/3kIEOyA
Buy a Study Guide for Proof God is Real: https://amzn.to/3ozDlfq
Enroll in the Proof God is Real School of Apologetics: https://www.danielkingministries.com/proof
About the Author: Dr. Daniel King is a missionary evangelist who has traveled to over seventy nations in his quest for souls. His goal is to lead 1,000,000 people to Jesus every year through massive Gospel Festivals, distribution of literature, and leadership training. Because of his experience and research on evangelism, he is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts in mass evangelism. As an evangelist, he has a deep interest in using apologetics to convince skeptics that God is real.
