I once heard that our life is shaped by our beliefs, how we see things in life. For instances, you can believe that the moon is made of cheese. Everyday you put more efforts to prove or realize that the moon is actually made of cheese. Perhaps someday when you can go to the moon, you will establish a kraft dinner factory there. You have the right to hold your belief and I will defend your right to believe it. If you believe that one thing is more important than anything else, then you priorities shift. You will focus on doing action towards what you believe. Days and night your mind will be filled with thoughts of that one thing. You will also have different thinking, attitude and behavior towards what you believe.
Sometimes, I think that life consists of many phases. One phase is when we were born, we gained education and care from our parents. Second phase is when we learn to stand on our own fit (i.e. early career life). Third phase is when (if God permits), we establish family. Forth, fifth, and so on…is when we grow our family, experience life lost, and finally that day when we met God face to face.
During these phases of life, our beliefs are shaped, so is our life. For example, if you believe that there is no God since you were young. You will never pray to God because you believe that God doesn’t exists. You will also act like there is no God for the future days of your life. Perhaps you will not care about sin, then you will do whatever you want without much thinking of the consequences.
Or…if we would like to take it a little bit into daily life. If your mind is set on your belongings, your action will reflect that as well. I just got myself a car. I spent months considering to buy a car. How’s that possible? Well, what made it so long is that I want to assure myself that I’m getting a car, not “a car is getting myself”. I need to set my mind: I’m buying the car I need, not the car I want. I need a car that I can treat as a car. I notice that some people treat their car better than they treat other people, or even close friends or family. I don’t want it to happen to myself. So thankfully, I’ve found a car I can drive with peaceful mind. See…my belief on cars can empower all the thinking and actions for few months.
Another examples is church life. You know…unlike Catholic church, there are so many denominations among Christian churches. Some church believe that as Christian, God really wants to bless us with material blessings abundantly. So that belief will reflect on their prayers. “Lord, please multiply this offering by hundred times and so and so”. A friend of mine is getting sick and tired of debates across churches. He posted his status on facebook once: “Jesus is the ONLY way to God but we are not the only way to Jesus!. A simple message to those who claimed their teaching is the righteous one”. The sentence triggered my mind to think: what is righteous? whose standard of righteousness?. What I think righteous can be different with what you think. Oh well…good news: we have the Bible that tells God’s truth!
What we need to realize, our life is shaped by our beliefs, our view of reality. Our beliefs determine the way we look at the world. Our beliefs determine the way we feel about ourselves and other people, and the way we act. However, that doesn’t mean what you believe is the truth. Which truth? God’s truth. Why is that? Well, God is the One who created us, He has planned the purpose of our life, He knows uniquely what processes we need to go through in life. He knows what priorities we should have in life.
It is absolutely critical that we not only seek to know the truth but we also examine our beliefs and bring them aligned to the truth.