To Believe
What does it mean to believe?
If you and I believed that tomorrow we would win the lottery would we be different somehow? Would our attitudes and behaviors change?
True belief brings about a change - a change of heart, a change of attitude, a change of behavior, a change of life-style.
True belief is more than an intellectual acknowledgement. If we say we believe in something but there is no change within us our belief is empty and without meaning.
James 2:17
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
If you and I believed that tomorrow we would win the lottery would we quit our jobs and take a vacation? Would we sell the house and move to Hawaii? Would we trade in the old car and buy a new car?
True belief brings about a turning - a turning away from the old and a turning toward the new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
True belief brings about a change and a turning.
If you and I truly believe in Jesus there will be a change within us - a change in our hearts, a change in our attitudes, a change in our behaviors, a change in the way we live.
If you and I truly believe in Jesus there will be a turning within us - a turning away from the old way of doing things and a turning toward the way Jesus would do things, a turning away from what we desire and a turning toward what the Spirit desires, a turning away from ourselves for the answer and a turning toward the Father for the answer.
John 5:24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
If you and I truly believe in Jesus then we have indeed won the ultimate lottery.
So…
Has Jesus changed you?
Have you won the lottery?
To Believe
Isaiah 55:8, 9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Man’s wisdom says…
“Prove it to me and then I will believe.”
God’s wisdom says…
“Believe and then I will prove it to you.”
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
When the Judgment Day comes there are going to be a lot of people who stubbornly chose man’s wisdom over God’s wisdom.
Unfortunately for them however, after seeing the proof it will be too late to believe.
So…
Are you lookin’ for proof?
Or do you believe?
To Believe
John 6:69
“We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
There is a difference between believing and knowing.
First comes believing then comes knowing, believing comes before the fact knowing comes after the fact. If you and I truly believe in something we will act on that belief. And through that action our believing will become knowing. Believing is the stepping-stone by which we come to know that something is true.
At first the disciples believed that Jesus was the Holy One of God and that belief caused them to take action and they followed Jesus. After following Jesus for three and a half years the disciples came to know that Jesus was the Holy One of God - their believing had become knowing.
Luke 6:46-49
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
If you and I truly believe in Jesus then we will act on that belief.
John 17:3
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Jesus’ desire is that you and I not just believe in Him but that we come to know Him - know Him in a real and personal way - know Him right now, today - know Him like the disciples knew Him.
If you and I truly believe in Jesus then we will take action based on that belief and follow Him. And as we see and experience the results of that action we will come to know Him and the Father in the process.
So…
Do you believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God?
Or do you know that Jesus is the Holy One of God?
Do you believe in Jesus?
Or do you know Jesus?
