Believers

A politician’s party believes.  A sport coach’s team believes.  Otherwise, what is the point?  Collect a paycheck.  Win a contest.  In every situation there is a difference between those who “believe” and those who do not.  It does, and should, make a difference by what one believes and how one looks at the future.
 
Yesterday a friend announced that regardless of the evidence, no matter how many facts, even with expert opinions, she knew the answer.  Nothing else mattered.  The question and any exploration, growth, and wonder were complete.  I am not sure what to call this state; however “believers” doesn’t seem accurate. 
 
On the other hand I know the cynics and skeptics well.  I am frequently a member of their camp.  Entry is easy, member a breeze to maintain; getting out and making a positive difference to one’s environment and the people you touch is the difficult part.  Everything can be challenged.  Nothing needs to be connected.  Logic doesn’t apply if it touches my comfortable views, fears, and pride in any way. 
 
Even or especially when you come to spiritual matter, the level of belief drives everything that happens.  If one listens in on a conversation between Jesus and leaders of his day you get the sense of the interplay in our lives.  “If God called your ancestors ‘gods’—and Scripture doesn't lie—why do you yell, ‘Blasphemer!  Blasphemer!’ at the unique One the Father consecrated and sent into the world, just because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?  If I don't do the things my Father does, well and good; don't believe me.  But if I am doing them, put aside for a moment what you hear me say about myself and just take the evidence of the actions that are right before your eyes.  Then perhaps things will come together for you, and you'll see that not only are we doing the same thing, we are the same—Father and Son.  He is in me; I am in him.”  (John 10.35-38)
 
I wonder.  What do my actions say I believe today?