Why we believe what we believe

Many professing believers today are unable to express the reasons why they believe what they believe. It's important to understand why you do or don't believe in various doctrines of the Bible, such as; divine healing, or spiritual gifts, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Take the subject of spiritual gifts for example; do you know what you believe about them? Do you know where to find the Scriptures which teach us about these gifts?

Unfortunately, the majority of Christian's are unable to express their faith. The Scripture tells us: "...though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food." (Heb. 5:12).

Many believers today have been saved for years, yet they are unable to teach others of the wonderful blessings of knowing Christ. Far too many believers were never weaned off of spiritual milk. The Greek word in the New Testament for babes is "nepios" which denotes the inability to speak. The idea behind it is that of an infant who has yet to develop a vocabulary. According to Scripture, the inability for Christian's to intelligently and confidently express their faith indicates they are spiritual babes.

Is this problem with the individuals, or is this a problem in the church with poor teaching? I believe it's a little of both. Many believers lack the desire to learn about the "deep things of God." In other cases, the teaching in many churches never goes beyond the basic evangelistic message of the need to know Christ. Which ever the case, we have to find a way to equip believers with the ability to express their faith with truth and conviction.

If you are a professing believer and you don't know how to express why you believe what you believe; you are going to remain a babe in Christ for the rest of your life. A babe in Christ has no ability to speak and therefore teach the "first principles of the oracles of God." This is a direct defiance of Christ's command to us all, that we are to "...go and make disciples of all nations."

The apostle Peter admonished us to be ready to give to every man, an answer concerning the hope that is within us. Isn't it time we equipped ourselves with the knowledge of the Scriptures to do just that? I encourage you all to grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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