By Steve

Believing In Jesus

I owe the thoughts of this entry to the Citywalk home churches, your thoughts and contributions to this way of thinking have influenced me in a great way and I know will help countless others as they think through what it means to believe in someone. Thank you.

Most of my life I have been encouraged to believe in Jesus. As important as people made this out to be, I cannot ever remember anyone telling me what it means. I have been taught (slang for force fed) the "right" things to believe about Jesus, like what he did, why he had to do it and how that would help me, but not so much what it means to believe in him. I needed something less abstract. To help grapple with this concept, I began asking myself, what does it mean to believe in someone. Not God, not Jesus, just someone. I began to realize that we do this all the time. We believe in presidents (or not), athletes, co-workers, friends et cetera. When I realized that believing in people is so common, it gave me hope that I might be able to put something more tangible to what it means to believe in Jesus, so I began asking questions.

What does it mean to believe in xyz (no, your fly is not down) person? Let's name her Marge (no, this is not to hint that I think God is a woman, but I do love the Simpsons). Now, for a moment stop thinking about God and the great city of Springfield and think about Marge. What would it mean for us to believe in Marge? What is it about her that would compel our belief in her? Why would we choose to do it?

Hopefully these are things that begin to surface when you think about it. She is someone we can trust. We can count on her. We know she cares about us and wants whats best for us. She is who she says she is. Marge is genuine, herself. She has been down the road she's asking us to travel and knows what its like. We know her advice is good, wise and helpful. She will not let us down. Her outlook is positive. Her goals, dreams and purposes in life are noble. I could go on. When you meet Marge, and discover who she is, you are compelled to spend time with her...to follow her. You don't want to miss out. More importantly, you want to be a part of what she is about. You want to become more like her, not become her, just be more like her. You want to help her pursue her goals and dreams and purposes because as you spend time with her, they become yours too.

I see this happen all over our world. One voice rises above the others and we sign on. Circles of friends look alike, dress alike and are concerned about similar things. Not to open a political debate but think about the President. While campaigning, he works hard to get Americans to believe in him, to trust him, to believe in his dreams and future for America and mostly to get our votes. This is also why so many Americans, many who voted for for the current president, now want him gone. They no longer trust him or can count on him and they don't believe he has delivered on what he sold us on years ago. Many no longer want to follow or to be a part of or to join the efforts of todays leadership/presidency. From school playgrounds to the presidency, we know what it means to believe in someone and follow them. Believing in someone is really not that weird.

Now.

Replace the name Marge with Jesus. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Scroll back up and read about believing in Marge again. Is it really any different with Jesus? He is who he says he is. We can trust him and count on him. He has walked the path he asks us to walk and knows what its like. His advice is good and will not lead us astray. His goals, dreams and purposes are noble, for they are the purposes of God. When we spend more time with Jesus in the scriptures, we become more like him and want to join him in his efforts, like a partner with God. In this view, believing in Jesus and following Jesus work together. This sort of belief requires action.

"Do you believe in Jesus?" ranks fairly high on the list of the most important questions you will ever be asked (does this list really exist?). It may help us to consider what the question even means. I hope this helps.

These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31

Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1