What Does It Mean to Believe?

“He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”  — John 1:10-12

What does it mean to believe in Jesus? To believe means to hear and accept the WORDS of Jesus. With His words recorded in the Gospels, Jesus exposed our sins. He revealed God the Father to us. He promised eternal life to His followers. He explained the work He had come to do. He taught us how to live.

Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”  — John 5:24

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  — John 6:63

“Heaven and earth will disappear, but My words will never disappear.”  — Matthew 24:35

Not only must we hear and accept the words of Jesus, but believing also means to accept and trust the WORK of Jesus. Jesus came to do something no one else could do. He suffered and died as the sinless Son of God to pay the penalty of our sins and to save all who believe from eternal condemnation.

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  — Matthew 20:28

The saving work of Jesus reconciles us to God and restores us to God’s family. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus said to His Father, “I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”  — John 17:4

Finally, to believe  means to acknowledge and honor the WORTH of Jesus. Jesus is worthy of all honor and praise because He is the Son of God. His rising from the dead proved this. The Bible says that He is not only the Savior of those who come to Him in faith, but the creator and sustainer of the universe, the light of the world, King of kings and Lord of lords. Even the hosts of Heaven acknowledge this.

“And they sang a mighty chorus: Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered–to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”  — Revelation 5:12

We reject the Son of God and refuse to hear His words at our peril! We believe and accept Him to the promise of His Word and the transformation of our lives!

“But all who reject Me and My message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.”  — John 12:48

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”  — John 3:18

Have you truly believe on Jesus, the Son of the Living God? Have you accepted His words, trusted His work and honored His worth? Some one once wrote:

Someone told me that Jesus saves.

So I looked for Jesus at Christmas.

I found tinsel and noise.

I looked for Jesus at Calvary.

The cross was empty.

I looked for Jesus in the church

and found Him.

I found Him in the hearts

of those who believe.

I Did It For Love

 

“If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his made, how can God’s love reside in him? Little children, we must not love with words or speech, but with truth and action.”  — 1 John 3:17-18

 

One morning a mother was running late for an appointment. Wanting to look her best, she asked her son to polish her shoes. He did such a good job that she wanted to reward him. So, she gave him a dollar.

 

As she was putting on one of the shoes, she felt something strange. She reached into the shoe and discovered her dollar bill. With it was a note that read, “Here’s your dollar back, Mom. I did it for love.”

 

Love has ears to hear the size of the sorrowing. It has eyes to see the needs of those who were suffering. It has feet that run to others to show mercy. It has hands that extend themselves to help heal others. It has a heart that can feel the pain that others are enduring. Love always forgets self to serve others.

 

If we are not serving others, we do not love. God’s word tells us to “love in deed, not words alone.” Service is the outward, visible expression of an inward, tangible reality. Serving others to the glory of God is the clearest evidence of God’s love planted in the human heart.

 

May each show more of his love every day.

To Dream Again

“When the Lord brought back the captive ones to Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.”  — Psalm 126:1-3

It started like so many evenings. Mom and Dad at home and Jimmy playing after dinner. Mom and Dad were absorbed with jobs and did not notice the time. It was a full moon and some of the light seeped through the windows. Then Mom glanced at the clock. “Jimmy, it’s time to go to bed. Go up now and I’ll come and settle you later.”

Unlike usual, Jimmy went straight upstairs to his room. An hour or so later his mother came up to check if all was well, and to her astonishment found that her son was staring quietly out of his window at the moonlit scenery. “What are you doing, Jimmy?” “I’m looking at the moon, Mommy.” “Well, it’s time to go to bed now.” As one reluctant boy settled down, he said, “Mommy, you know one day I’m going to walk on the moon.”

Who could have known that the boy in whom the dream was planted that night would survive a near fatal motorbike crash which broke almost every bone in his body, and would bring to fruition this dream 32 years later when James Irwin stepped on the moon’s surface, just one of the 12 representatives of the human race to have done so?

Because we are human, it is all too common that our dreams abandon us at times. The grind of the everyday can be one of the greatest enemies of our dreams. As time ticks, our dreams can dissolve into a slow fade. Israel was sqandering its identity as God’s people in captivity in a strange land. Then God gave them their dream back.

We live in a culture that diminishes and discourages dreamers but God has called us to dream (Joel 2:28). To be the effective witness we were created to be, we must dream. Those who dream have their mouths filled with laughter (vs. 2a) and have tongues filled with joyful shouting (vs. 2b). Of those who dream the nations will testify, “The Lord has done great things for them (vs. 2c).” These things are woefully absent from the average church.

Those who dream by day are aware of many things that escape those who only dream by night. All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was just an empty exercise. But the dreamers of the day are courageous men, for they tend to act out their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

I believe its time to dream again.