I finished a book recently written by a professor of philosophy who happened to be a Christian. He wrote about a project/experiment he has done every year with his students that I found fascinating.

At the beginning of each semester, he has all of his students write a paper on why or why not they think that God exists. This is to be done solely based on their own knowledge and experience, no research or study is supposed to be done to write the paper.

At the end of the semester, the professor has his students rewrite the same paper, but this time factoring in everything they have learned about philosophy and reasoning throughout the course. The end result is that nearly everyone in the class comes to the understanding that God exists. Now this is really interesting and says a lot about how logical our faith is, but it’s not the most interesting or important conclusion.

You see, the professor learned something shocking by doing this each semester. Even though the vast majority came to believe that God exists, their response was almost always some variation of, “So what?”

By doing this project/experiment over and over again, the professor came to understand that even though these students believed in God, knowledge alone did not produce a desire in them to worship Him or enter into any sort of relationship with Him.

I have observed this same line of thinking as well while talking to individuals about what they believe. They say, “Sure, God exists. I think there is a Creator. I just don’t see why I need to change my life because of it. Why do I need to worship Him?”

Understanding this lack of desire is very important for us as we share our faith and the Gospel. Evangelism is not just about convincing people that what you believe is correct but also why it even matters that you’re correct. We need to help people understand why it is so marvelous and amazing to entrust your life to God and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior!

I think about this in regards to Easter. I have done many sermons and have had many talks with people proving the events recorded in the Bible concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection are accurate beyond any reasonable doubt, and yet if I leave it at that, I have not given the full picture of hope.

I can talk about facts and proof all day, but in doing so I miss out on talking about the one true God. God is love, and to miss out on talking about that causes us to miss the whole point. It is who God is at His core, and it permeates everything that He has done, is doing and will ever do!

Creation is an act of God’s love. He wanted us and created a perfect paradise for us to dwell with Him in. Sin corrupted that and broke our relationship with Him, but God still wanted us. He still loved us.

Easter is the redeeming act of God’s love. The Sovereign God over all creation loved us and wanted us. It is in His love and through His love that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus, God in the flesh), that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This Easter, as you are reminded of those events nearly 2,000 years ago, don’t just look at and share the facts. Take time to see the heart of God that loves us all more than we could ever hope to understand!

People’s EC Church is located at 216 Wagner St., Lehighton.