“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV
Is it necessary to believe that God exists to pray to Him, to go to Him? The obvious answer should be yes, however, there are individuals who when they are in crisis mode will pray to God even though the rest of the time they profess He doesn’t exist. That is inconsistent, odd, weird and some might say hypocritical, but I am thankful for those moments because in my mind, that person isn’t firmly cemented in their unbelief.
It doesn’t mean that they are now believers or that God is going to richly reward them as God wants sincere faith in Him, not just crisis based cooperation. However, I believe that when a person is willing to consider, even when it is in a crisis, that there could be ‘someone bigger than themselves’ then the door is open to the person possibly changing their beliefs. This is exciting news since there are most likely people in each of our lives who are in the category of nonbelievers.
There is so much more about this verse that can be unpacked but for today I simply want to focus on the hope that we can see when an unbeliever cracks open the door to consider that God actually exists. I encourage each believer to look for those moments when an unbeliever is inconsistent between their actions and beliefs and to be excited that there is a crack in the place where the unbeliever has cemented themselves normally.
Have a wonderful day!