There is a verse that always comes to my mind when I hear a “why” question about the Christian faith. It’s 1 Peter 3:15b, “… always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…”. The first century church faced this question so much so that Peter had to caution his readers to be prepared always to make a defence – to give a logical, reasonable and compelling answer to why they believed in Jesus. A lot has happened since Peter wrote his letter and several decades have passed, but the instruction is still as relevant today as it was then. Whereas Christians in the early church faced completely different challenges (and sometimes more life – threatening) than what we face in current times, the question for which non-believers demand an answer is still the same – “why?”. I hope I can give you, if not a logical, then at least a reasonable and compelling defence for the hope and faith I have in Jesus Christ.

I gave my life to Jesus in my first year of high school. I was 13 then. I was simply attracted by the funny and articulate preachers who came to school and the day I gave my life to Jesus; a group of students had just finished acting a skit. I do not remember a line in the skit but as the last scene was being rolled off the stage, I said in my heart, “I want to be a part of this. I want to be this happy and joyful. I want to have this kind of meaning.” So when the preacher invited those who wanted “to get saved” to come forward, I stepped to the aisle without any hesitation and walked to the altar. I mumbled a few words which I don’t recall and started what has so far been the most long lasting, fulfilling and meaningful relationship in my life.

When I stepped on to that aisle, I did not know what I was signing up for. I did not know a thing about what my future held. I had been a “Christian by association [read birth]” for 13 years, never knowing what it really meant to profess Christianity. It’s been several years since I last walked down that aisle and now I know for sure what I signed up for. It is exactly what I had hoped for – happiness, joy and meaning. I have seen changes in and around me over the years that could have only been possible through the working of a being much more powerful than the forces of nature (including my nature). I have gone through experience upon experience that have sealed the deal for me and have confirmed to me – over and over again – that the decision I made on that sunny afternoon in a high school chapel was the best decision in my life.

When I think of the reason for my faith and hope in Jesus, I am immediately reminded of Jacob. My favourite portion from the book of Genesis comes from Jacob’s monologue in Genesis 28:20-22. However, today I would like to tell you about two other things Jacob said [at the end of his life] which to me best explain why I believe in Jesus. In Genesis 47:9 Jacob answers Pharoah by saying, “my life of wandering has lasted a hundred and thirty years. Those years have been few and difficult [some versions say evil], unlike the long years of my ancestors in their wanderings.”. When one reads these words [alone], they can be tempted to quickly conclude that a life with God is worthless, difficult, short, painful and pointless. But the same Jacob comes back in Genesis 48:15 and says, “…the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil…”.

Upon reading the two scriptures together and with some knowledge of the background and past events in Jacob’s life, it is very clear that when Jacob answered Pharoah in Genesis 47, he was not speaking about God. He was speaking about his life and his choices which had gotten him into a bitter fight with his brother Esau and had sent him on a painful life with an uncle who did not care about him. It even becomes clearer when Jacob declares in Genesis 48 that God had been with him as he was with his ancestors, that God had been his shepherd (I encourage you to go and find out what the work of a shepherd was during those times) and that God had redeemed him from evil (permit me to add – the evil which he got himself into).

Several years after Jacob said these words, one of his descendants had the same conviction about God. Although this descendant had often laboured to keep himself from evil, evil was always lurking around him and stalking him on every side. But his testimony about God is very consistent with Jacob’s testimony in Genesis 48. I wonder if when penning the glorious words in Psalm 23, David remembered his ancestors as Jacob did.

Several centuries after David penned that beautiful Psalm, another of the descendants of Abraham, one whose life is more akin to Jacob’s experience than to David’s. One to whom evil has not shied away and who occasionally, like Jacob, finds herself entangled in places, decisions, experiences she should not be in. Several millennia later, that [adopted] daughter of Abraham has the same conviction.

God [the Father] is Faithful. God [the son – Jesus] is Faithful. God [the Holy Spirit] is Faithful. That is why I believe in Jesus. He is faithful to the poor. He is faithful to the rich. He is faithful to the happy. He is faithful to the broken hearted. He is faithful to the sinner. He is faithful to the righteous. He is faithful to children. He is faithful to parents. He is faithful to kings. He is faithful to servants. God is Faithful yesterday, today and forever!

The story of the cross is a story that explains and affirms one thing – the faithfulness of God. That is why I believe in Jesus!

Scriptures Quoted but not included within the text

Genesis 28:20-22 (ESV) Then Jacob made a vow saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Psalm 23 (ESV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.