Do I really believe that what I believe is really real?

A couple weeks ago Paul and I watched the first portion of the Truth Project and ever since then I've had the primary question from it stuck in my head. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Truth Project, it's a series of videos by Del Tackett about how the truth, particularly as revealed in the Bible, affects all areas of life. In the first video, he asks the question, "Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?" It's been bothering me ever since I saw the video. Actually, it didn't bother me much at first, but each day that goes by I seem to encounter it in my thoughts more and more frequently.

I guess the first thing it makes me wonder is what exactly I do believe. I would like to go through and really figure out what I believe and whether or not my belief in it is justified. But on top of that, especially when it comes to the things I know I believe and would hold fast to, it makes me wonder if I really believe it in the depths of my heart. If I really believed these things to be real - about the nature of God and the nature of man, at a most basic level - would my life be different than it is now? And how so? And if so, how can I make my beliefs real in a way that would impact the way I live?

I don't want to verbally claim a set of beliefs and not live them out, but I also don't want to live in a way because I think those who hold that set of beliefs should live that way. Did that make sense? I don't want to force my behavior to fit into a mold that I think it should have - I want my beliefs to be so real that they lead to changes in my behavior. And I think sometimes that those changes will be unexpected even to me. So I am going to set out to discover what I really do believe, and then I am going to endeavor to truly believe those things and to live out of them. I'm not sure exactly how to start, but hopefully I'll get somewhere even if it isn't in a very systematic way. If I can have real beliefs in a real reality (I know that sounds horribly redundant :P ), I think it will give me a lot more contentment and meaning in life. So here goes! I will let you know my thoughts along the way :)