“For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have everlasting life.”
John
3:16
The Bible verse quoted above is one of the most
widely known. Christians and unbelievers alike know this verse and can quote it
on command. But, I believe, it may be a misunderstanding of this verse that is
the reason for one of the greatest myths about God that exist today.
I had a friend who once said that he believed
strongly that God exists. And yet that appears to have no (or little) effect on
his life. In fact, when I asked him once whether he’d given his life to
God, he’d answered in the negative, shrugging it off. “I’ll
probably burn forever for it,” he said. And yet, he did even seem to have
any qualms about saying it. Later, when I questioned further, he seemed to
equate giving his life to God to being a monk. I felt insulted and sorrowful at
the same time. He called me a “Jesus freak” once. And that had the
same effect.
Some time ago, a survey in
It appears that they, like so many others,
believe that believing that God (Jesus) exists is the same thing as
believing in him. And people like me, who try our best to believe in
the Lord Jesus, they call religious fanatics. According to the
Jesus said, “Not every one who says to
me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven…”
(Matthew 7:21). Translation: Not everyone who knows that He is God and Lord
will be saved from the second death. So, to believe in Jesus doesn’t just
mean to know He exists.
Let us see from a Biblical viewpoint as to what
exactly it means to believe in Jesus. The word used in the Greek (the language
the New Testament was written in) is pisteuo; and this is defined
by Strong’s Greek Concordance as: “to have faith (in, upon, or with
respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust
(especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ)”. It would appear that
the latter definition from the
Our Lord Himself said during his earthly
ministry: “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and
mother and wife and children and brothers and sister, yes, and even his own
life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) A strange statement; and
yet it comes from the same God who commanded His people to honour their parents
(Exodus
So we see that we must be able to put Jesus
before our family, our significant others, even our very lives if we are
to be worthy of Him. It is not enough to know that He exists. We must incorporate
that wonderful truth into our lives and make Him our centre.
But what exactly does all this entail? When we
love God more than anything and to make Him the most important thing in our
life, what is suppose to happen?
“Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so, we should walk in newness of life… Knowing
this that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (Romans 6:4
& 6, ibid.)
Ah, so when we have accepted God into our lives
and love Him, we should be new creatures, “no longer slaves of
sin.” So, if we really believe in God, we will turn out backs away from
sin. If we really love the Lord, we will obey Him to the best of our ability.
“For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John
5:3)
It is not merely enough just to believe that
God exists and expect salvation from hellfire, the second death. We need to put
all our faith in He who died for us:
“Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified saved by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” (Romans
So, what exactly does believing in Jesus
entail?
1) Love the Lord with all your heart.
2) Make Him the centre of your life. Involve
Him in all your decisions and actions.
3) Put all your faith in Him.
4) Obey Him. Keep His Ten Commandments
(including the two greatest commandments of Matthew
Our God does not want people who half-heartedly
follow Him. In fact, in the book of Revelation (Apocalypse in the Roman
Catholic Bible), He says to such people:
“I know your works that you are neither
cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are
lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
(Revelation 3:15-16)
These are strong words, but they make a very
good point: this attitude of making God a being of little influence in our
lives is one that He is not very fond of. Believing that God exists is good,
most definitely. But if that doesn’t have much impact on your life, then
it is meaningless. Giving your life to the Messiah is not something that only
priests, nuns and monks are called to, but everyone.
At first, I was offended by the label
“Jesus freak”. But now, I know that my friend was speaking only in
ignorance and I feel sad for him. God would have us all be Jesus freaks. And if
that’s a name I have to carry for loving Him, I will wear it with pride.
This how James puts it: “You believe that
God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder.”
(James 2:19)
Indeed, elsewhere in the Bible, we see examples
of this concept. The group of unclean spirits (demons) that had possessed the
man in the country of the Gadarenes showed their fear of our Lord Jesus. (Mark
5:1-13) The demons are afraid because they know of His power and know that
believing He exists is not enough to spare them from His wrath.
My God and Your God loved us all so much that
He gave up the greatest sacrifice that the world has every known. Not only did he
descend from His place in heaven to become a lowly human like us, but he then died
a most shameful and painful death so that you and I don’t have
to. The pure, spotless Lamb of God was treated like a murderer and common
thief. And yet, He did it with love.
What an amazing God we have! The least we can
do is love Him in return and try our best (out of love and faith in Him) to
live the way He wants us to live. ש
Note: All Bible quotations are
taken from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) unless otherwise indicated.
© Copyright 2005, 2006 Keneil Thomas
· What It Means To Be Under Grace
Readers are permitted and encouraged to reproduce this paper in its entirety. To copy subsections, you will require the permission of the author, who may be contact at the e-mail address below. All reproductions and distributions must have the name and e-mail address of the author.
Contact: [email protected]