This is National Mathematics Education Month.

Since this is National Mathematics Education Month, here’s a test: Take three apples from five apples and how many do you have? The answer: three (that’s how many you took). Now that was a trick question.

In your very first arithmetic classes you learned to add and subtract. You found, for example, that 2 + 2 = 4, 4 + 4 = 8, and so forth. And you’ve never forgotten those lessons. They make sense. They’re true. You can take it to the bank!

Things add up in other areas as well, not just in numbers and math. For example, if at a friend’s house you see a dog food dish, a leash, and a bag of dog food, and you hear barking, you conclude that the family has a dog. The evidence is clear—it all adds up.

When we want answers to questions, we look for evidence. Then we add the clues together to discover the truth.

The evidence for the reality of God and Jesus works that way. People may wonder and have questions, but they need to check out the evidence. At the beginning of his Gospel, Luke wrote that he had investigated the evidence and was presenting it to his readers so they could be sure (see Luke 1:1-3).

Then, in today’s passage John, one of Jesus’ closest followers and friends, says he is writing as an eyewitness. John’s conclusion? “He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life.”

God doesn’t want us to check our brains at the door. He says to look closely, investigate, ask, check out the evidence. So don’t get stressed out if you or your friends have questions about faith. When you look at the evidence, you’ll find that it all adds up.

The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life (1 John 1:1).

To Do

Read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and look for evidence of the true identity of Jesus. Keep track of your findings and share them with a parent.

Also on this day . . .

1861—The Civil War begins with the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

1900—Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. territory.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.