Belief is a funny thing. We can believe anything. Think it’s not true? It can be proven with a little experiment. I have seen it done in a classroom. It is a psychological experiment. You need about a dozen or so people who know each other, but not well. That’s why a class is a perfect setting.
You randomly choose one person to leave the classroom. You then tell the remaining people what you want to convince the other person of. Make it something that seems plausible, even if untrue. Have the person return and tell them what you want them to believe. All the others chime in and say it is true. You will convince the person who left the room it is true.
This is a relatively simple psychological exercise to go through. It is safe in a classroom, because you can then correct the untruth by telling them it was an exercise, and it isn’t the truth. However, this same thing happens outside our classrooms every day. One person convinces another something is true, even if it isn’t. They then convince someone else. The next thing you know, there are dozens, hundreds, or even thousands believing falsely.
On the other hand, the opposite is true as well. It only takes one person to convince someone else of the truth. Those two convince someone else. And, once again, before long you have dozens, hundreds, and thousands convinced. This is how the early church grew. The gospel message was spread by the apostles and other disciples. And it all started with Jesus revealing the truth of God. We can continue to spread His truth to the people we know today.
I pray we all decide to convince others of the truth. I pray we spread the truth of the gospel. I pray each one of us take Jesus’ words with us and tell His message to everyone we meet. Know the gospel message. Take it with you. Tell everyone you meet. Spread the truth of God.
John 17:7-8 “Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”
Marty Pressey 