Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Let's look more deeply into what it means to "believe," according to John 3:16. There are people who are afraid they don't know how to believe sufficiently well to receive the blessing promised in that verse.
(1) Be careful. Don't boast, "Yes, I believe with all my heart!" You don't actually know your own heart. Peter thought he knew his heart when he told Jesus he would not deny Him. He was sure that he believed.
(2) There is a prayer that is so important to know, that it could mean eternal salvation to us. It is the prayer of the distraught, worried, fearful father in Mark 9:24: "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief!" A wise writer has said, "You can never perish if you pray that prayer."
(3) God is delighted to see in us even the tiniest evidence that a living, genuine faith has begun to spout in us. Jesus tells us that if we have "faith as a grain of mustard seed," our prayers will be answered (Matt. 17:20). But you MUST act on that tiny beginning of faith; risk something on it. If you have that tiny little speck of genuine faith, you will certainly trust your Lord. Trust is a part of faith; but trust is impossible unless there is some goodness in the person who has promised you something. Faith is therefore recognizing that goodness in God, and confessing it openly.
(4) Which brings us to the clearest definition of faith: faith is a heart-appreciation of God's character of agape. Thus John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish," that is, whosoever's heart appreciates that "loving" and that "giving," who at least begins to "comprehend" it (see Eph. 3:14-21). There you have the beginning of true faith.
(5) Such faith has dynamite built into it, because it begins to "work" right away (Gal. 5:6). It produces obedience to all the commandments of God. It is not motivated by raw fear (agapecasts out fear; 1 John 4:18). The "works" are motivated by that heart-melting appreciation for what it cost the Son of God to save us. (You know, He went to hell in order to find us. That's what moves your heart forever!)
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 2, 2001.
Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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