I’ve spent much time this weekend in reflection and have concluded this: I believe. Not because there is any proof, scientific or otherwise; and not because I have no other choice or out of an obligation to my upbringing.

It is love Jesus said we must value above all else. Love for God. Love for others. Love that gives no room for enemies nor animosity, not even for those who would oppose or mock my beliefs. It is a love at its purest, most accepting, most gracious.

It is a love that knows no bounds. A love that is devoid of politics. A love without regard to creed, financial status, nationality, nor education. It is simply love:

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13.1-13 (NLT)

Thomas needed to touch Jesus’ hands and feet. Maybe there was a tinge of shame in Thomas’ voice for not simply believing. But Jesus response was one of love when he said:

“You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

I believe because I believe.

I just do.