Believing

There is a difference between believing God exists and believing in God.  Obviously to believe in God we must believe that He exists.  But there is more involved.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us that the one who pleases God not only believes He exists, he also believes God will reward those who seek His ways.

A friend of mine likes to use the illustration of medicine.  One person may believe medicine exists.  Another person may believe medicine exists and then he uses it knowing there will be a good result.  We must not just believe God exists but believe IN God!  We must not only have the intellectual knowledge that God is alive but also trust Him enough to follow Him.

James tells us that faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:20-26).  The kind of faith that does nothing is worthless and it is not what God wants from us.  The kind of faith that is helpful to us is one that is alive and active.  So what does that mean?

The word “faith” comes from the word that means “to believe”.  In the New Testament, when the noun is used it is almost always translated “faith”.  When the verb is used it is always translated “to believe”.  They both have the same root meaning!  These are action words.  Even the noun form (faith) implies action even though it is not a verb.  That simply means that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).  This little lesson in grammar is powerful.  We must understand that if we want a healthy and vibrant faith, it must be an active faith!

Faith implies trust.  When we see the promises of God and act upon them, we do so because we trust God to keep His promises!  So in order to build faith, we must learn to build trust in God.

Faith also implies knowledge.  We must know what God wants before we step out in faith to do it.  Romans 10:17 teaches that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The context is about the need for preachers so that people can be saved.  Paul wrote, “How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).  

People cannot be saved unless they call on the name of the Lord to save them. (See Acts 22:16 for an explanation of that phrase.)  People cannot call on the name of the Lord to save them if they have never BELIEVED.  And they can never believe in something they have never HEARD.

We know that there are people in the world who are teaching all kinds of things as “facts” from the Bible which are not facts at all.  This is nothing new.  It has happened since Satan first tempted Eve in the Garden.  The New Testament is full of warnings about false teachers.  But let’s remember that people cannot be taught error and expect to have faith in God.  They might place their faith in error and in the false teacher, but if their (our) faith is not in GOD’S WORD then it is not faith in GOD.

Believing is vital to the Christian.  Let us study the word to ensure that we are believing TRUTH and that we are acting upon it.  As we do this we will be blessed by God!  Keep your faith in God and in no other.  Do not let yourself be deceived by anything that is contrary to the teaching of God.  Believing is important, but believing the RIGHT thing is the only way to be saved!