It was his first day on the job. He was a new clerk in the fresh food department of a super market. A lady approached him and said that she wanted to buy half a head of lettuce. He tried to convince her to buy the whole head, but she persisted.

Finally he said, "I'll have to go back and talk to the manager."

He walked to the rear of the store - not noticing that she was walking right behind him. When he got to the back of the store, he said to the manager, "Some stupid old bag wants to buy half a head of lettuce. What should I tell her?"

Seeing the horrified look on his manager's face, he glanced behind him to see the lady standing there. He quickly responded, "And this nice lady wants the other half, is that okay?"

Considerably relieved, the manager said, "That would be fine."

Later in the day he congratulated the boy on his quick thinking. He then asked, "Where are you from, boy?"

The boy said, "Toronto, Canada, , the home of beautiful hockey players and ugly women."

The manager looked at him and said, "My wife is from Toronto."

Without blinking an eye, the boy responded, "Oh, really, and what team does she play for?"

I think all of us would like to think that quickly on our feet. We would all like to be able to respond with exactly the right words at exactly the right time. But what I want to talk to you about today is not the best response or the one that makes the most sense, but the one that we use the most. I want to think about the response we give to the most profound questions in our lives. It is spoken by the most uneducated children to the most astute philosopher. I want to think about the oldest, strangest, and strongest response we ever offer. I want to think about that little word because.

Do you like tea more than coffee? Why? Because.

Do you prefer vanilla to chocolate? Why? Because.

Do you like red more than green? Why? Because.

We never stop to think seriously about that fact that red stimulates thought better than green. Or that coffee is addictive while tea is not. Or that vanilla ice cream is healthier than chocolate. We just say because.

Ladies, why did you marry your husbands? (I'm sure you ask yourself the same question several times each day!) He's not the most handsome. He's not the most intelligent. He doesn't make the most money. He's not the greatest spiritual leader in the world. So let's lay aside all those exaggerations, and let me ask you again: Why did you marry the man you married?

Well, because.

Why do you like one hymn over another? Because.

Why did you pick that neck tie when the other looked just as good and cost a little bit less?

Because.

Blaise Pascal, the great French mathematician who was a devout believer, once said, "The heart has its reasons that reason does not know." Many times we make decisions, we make choices, we take sides, just because. I would suggest to you this morning that we do this more than we realize.

I've always loved the story about the cowboy who was riding along and stumbles upon an Indian with his ear pressed close to the ground. The Indian said in a strained voice, "One wagon. Two miles off. Drawn by two horses. One black. One gray. One man wearing a red flannel shirt. One woman. Two children in the back."

The cowboy said, "It's amazing you can tell all that just by listening to the earth."

"No," the Indian said, "they ran over me thirty minutes ago. Go after them!"

The cowboy was impressed by the profound idea that the Indian had been able to determine all that - when in reality, it was very simple. I'm suggesting to you that you and I arrive at decisions and conclusions that we think are very profound - when in reality we have decided just because. Then having made up our minds, we come up with all kinds of profound reasons to justify the decisions that our hearts have already decided.

You remember Larry Scutnick. There was a terrible airplane crash in Washington, D.C. a few years back when an airliner struck a bridge and crashed in to the Potomac River. Larry was driving home from work and witnessed the tragedy. He stopped his car. Ran to the shore of the river, and began swimming back and forth in the freezing water dragging survivors to shore. When asked why he did it, he answered simply "Because."

Several years ago, a California newspaper ran an article about a mother who had saved her child from a shark one day at the beach. It seems that the child was swimming in a shallow portion of the beach with the mother looking on. The mother looked up to check on her child and saw the little girl knocked down by the force of a large fish. She immediately ran to the water. Now here is where the story gets interesting. Instead of plucking the girl from the water and attempting to get away, the mother lunged and the fish - that turned out to be a nine foot shark - grabbed it and beat it to death with her bare hands. When the press questioned her as to why she did it, her only response was, "Because."

As I have matured, my faith has grown. What is odd is that I find it growing stronger not because I have discovered new proofs of God's existence or of the reliability of the Bible. But rather simply because I believe. My conclusions on the evidence of God's existence and the reliability are as strong as ever, but they are now much more in my heart than they are in my head.

Don't accuse me of being anti-intellectual. I know that we are to believe with our heart, soul and mind. That we are to read, study, meditate and work out the reasons for our faith. But I am saying in addition to that, there is a fundamental conviction of the heart. And many times, that fundamental conviction of the heart prompts us to act before any of our well-thought-out reasons do. We do so simply because.

Do you remember the scene in Harriot Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin when Tom, the slave, is talking to Augustin St. Claire, the man who own's him?

Augustin St. Claire says to Tom, "Tom, how do you even know there is a Jesus Christ?"

Tom replies, "Why, Massah, I know him in my heart, and I know he loves you."

"But Tom," says St. Claire, "how do you know that?"

"My soul knows it."

There are some things that pass knowledge.

"But, Tom, you know that I know a great deal more than you do. What would you say, for example, if I told you that I don't believe much that is in the Bible? Would that shake your faith?"

"Not one grain, Massah. Not a grain."

What Tom is trying to say to St. Claire is, "I believe because."

I know that we are taught in Scripture by Peter through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we are to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us. I believe that with all my heart. But I also understand what Pascal was saying when he said, "The heart has reasons that reason does not know." He continues, "It is the heart that feels God, not reason." We arrive at some of the deep, soul-changing decisons in our lives on the basis of what goes on in our hearts.

Someone once asked Wilfred Grenfell if he believed in immortal life. "I do," He said.

They asked, "Why?"

"I believe in it because I believe in it and I am sure of it because I am sure of it."

Do you believe in heaven? I know all of us do. If I were to ask you why, isn't it true that beyond all the avanlache of good and valid arguments you might present, you believe because God has written heaven into our hearts? We are simply designed by God to know that there is something beyond this world.

I am forever indebted to some older Christians with whom I've been able to spend time. They knew nothing of all the evidences for the existence of God. They had never studied all the documents that attest to the reliability of the Bible. They had never listened to scholars tell all the sound reasons we can know about the truth of Christianity. Rather, they just believed because her heart told her to. Life without God made as much sense as square wheel. We could learn a lot from that kind of faith.

My text for this morning is one of my favorite verses from the Old Testament. Moses is talking to the children of Israel, trying to explain to them why God loves them. This is what he says, "The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were the more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you."

Moses is simply saying that the Lord loves His people because. Simply because.

Just as I cannot set down in a thousand volumes why I love my wife, God cannot describe to us why he loves us. If God were to try to give logical reasons why he loves us, we would all be in trouble. There are no logical reasons for God to love us. God loves us because.

Some people find it very hard to believe God loves them. They have a very keen sense of how sinful they are and how wretched they are. We all need to develop a deep sense of our sinfulness and our worthlessness before God - it is only by realizing how worthless we are that we understand in part how great God is. But if we carry this too far, and try to make sense of the fact that God loves us, we may have a hard time. God loves us because.

Look at some of the people God loved: Moses, a murderer; Abraham, a coward and a liar; David, a murderer and an adulteror; Paul, a religious zealot and an accomplice to murder; Peter, a braggart and a traitor; Lot, who offered his daughters up for rape. And the list goes on and on.

Very few of us should doubt God's love for us in the light of Him loving these people.

Add to that the thought of those Christian missionaries that you know who are in difficult and frustrating fields. Ask them why they love the people there. Ask them why they would spend their time and energy on people who seem so hard and unaffected and unreachable. Because. We love because. We love because He first loved us. God loves us because, so we love others because.

God so loved the world - because. Today, despite all our failings and rebellion against Him. God still loves us. No, it doesn't make sense. No, we can never understand why. In fact, we'd be doing really well if we could even comprehend how much. Jesus showed us that.

My only point today is to show you that in addition to all our reasoning and proof, our hearts must make that final leap of faith based only on "because". Have you made that leap? No man has ever or will ever prove that God exists. You see, if I could tell you exactly why I love my wife, then my love for her would require nothing of me except to do what makes sense. Love is never the logical thing to do. Love is never up for argument or interpretation. God wants more than anything for you to love him because.

Do you?

Will you?

Pierre Teilliard de Chardin once said it this way: "Centuries from now, after man has tamed the winds and the waves and the tides and gravity; but when we harness the power of love, then, for the second time in history, man will have discoverd fire."

Fall in love with Him. Let His love teach you how to love others just because.