Can I Force Myself to Believe

This coming Sunday millions of people will celebrate Easter, the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.  I will be one of those people.  I believe that a man named Jesus, who was the Christ, the Son of God was crucified, that he died, was buried and yes, that he rose from the dead.

I have also not believed it.  Maybe you don't believe it.

Here's what I've discovered.  A person can't force himself or herself to believe anything.  Belief is involuntary.  You either do or you don't.  If you tell me something I will either believe it or I won't but I can't force myself to believe it if I don't. 

Traditionally, particularly in my faith tradition, we have taught people that they must believe and by that we mean that they must intellectually agree with a certain doctrine or intellectually agree that a certain event really took place. 

But in the Bible belief has much more to do with the heart than with the head.  The apostle Paul said "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.'" Romans 10:9-11 [emphasis mine]

So believing is more about trusting with my heart than thinking with my head.  (In Greek, the language the New Testament was written in, "believe" and "trust" are the exact same word.)

Someone has said it this way.  I can be committed without being convinced. 

My wife and I were married very young.  When we said our vows we were making very real commitments but if we had been honest we would have admitted that we weren't convinced that the marriage would last.(During the ceremony our friends were taking bets on how long we would stay together.  That was 30 years ago.)

Here's my point. If you are drawn to the story of Jesus, if something inside you resonates with his teachings, the way he loved, the sacrifice he made, but you're not sure if you can intellectually agree with everything you read in the Bible, then I would encourage you to make a commitment to him anyway.  Entrust your life to him.  Follow him. Believe in your heart.  Then see what happens.