Genesis 1:1 – ” In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” NASB

What is the First Step?  What is the first step to believing?  What is the first step to a relationship with God?  What is the first step to abundant life? What is the first step to a life of victory and overcoming?  Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God…”  

If I don’t believe that as the foundation of everything that I believe I have no foundation upon which to build.  I either believe that in the dateless past (the beginning) there was God, and God created what I see before me, or I believe the explanation of the theories presented by the evolutionist.  Which is more difficult to believe?  To me the answer is simple; the easier to believe is that God IS and CREATED this world as well as we human beings.

I had a long conversation with a college professor.  He holds a Ph.D. in Biology and he assured me that he was both a devout evolutionist and a devout Christian and the two did not conflict.  His brand of Religious Affiliation is not important. His belief that somehow dismissing the Bible and still being a Christian is somehow compatible is.  To him is was ludicrous to believe that God spoke the world into existence.  He found that impossible to believe. He laughed at the idea that all this is by divine design.  The thought that God took dirt and formed Adam then breathed the breath of life into him was too far-fetched to embrace.  He found it impossible to believe that God took a rib from Adam and created Eve.

Yet, he believes that from a single-celled piece of slime, gradually over millions of years that piece of slime evolved into every species of creature including humankind on the planet.  He believes that somehow all this just happened by random chance.  I do not want to become political in this devotional, but if people really think like that in the realm of science and education and still believe that they are followers of Christ and see no conflict no wonder we have so much diversity in the political arena.

If I dismiss God being the beginning point.  If I dismiss the creation, dismiss the Garden of Eden, dismiss Adam & Eve and the fall of man then I must dismiss the remainder of the Bible.  How can I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, His sacrificial death on the Cross, resurrection, and ascension to Heaven if I do not believe the beginning account of Genesis?  Without that foundation, I have no basis for believing anything that is in the Bible.  That would negate my foundation of faith.  I would drift into nothingness in my belief system and become nothing more than the soulless animal creation.

Moral character would dissipate and there would be no restraints on my life.  After all, if we are just evolved creatures with no soul then what law would there be other than my own desire, to rule my life. I would effectively become the god of my own world and my world would exist so long as I was either cunning enough or was powerful enough to keep it intact. Nothing would be off-limits.

However, I choose to believe the report of Genesis 1 and believe that GOD IS, and He CREATED the heavens and the earth! I believe that He created man and the rest of the creatures on the planet and in the universe. I believe He hung the stars in place and placed everything where it was to be with the gravitational pull exactly as He designed and desired.   I believe that man fell in the Garden of Eden and brought condemnation to the race, that Jesus came to set us free from that bondage, give us Life and that Life more abundant!  

I believe that when we die, we will stand before God.  I believe that if we have accepted Christ as our Savior we will enter into the joys of the Lord and if we have rejected Him, we will be cast into outer darkness (hell). I  believe that the final result is based on our choices to accept Him or rejection of Him and it is not by random chance that I am here.  If you believe that you came from monkeys that is your choice.  You may, as some do, act like a soulless animal and live as though this life is all that there is. I choose to believe that God is both a loving God and one who will judge us in the end.

Therefore the first step is to either accept or reject Genesis 1:1.  If you do, the Bible opens an incredible world to you. If you do not then you are left in the darkness of the speculation of the theories as to how we got here.  I choose God not just some higher power, but the God of all creation as MY GOD and choose to follow HIM and His directives and guidance. I’ve had too many personal encounters and experiences to discount and dismiss my belief and faith, at this point in my life! So, I’ve taken the first step and believed and now I take the remaining steps and walk out that life step by step until the day He calls me home, which I believe is a VERY REAL PLACE – – HEAVEN!

God bless you as you go through your day!