Believe…

This one-word command, “Believe”, is the one that we should be following. I know it sounds like such an easy command but it is also one that is looked at by many people as “too easy”. 

John 3:16: 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.

It takes only your belief in Jesus to bring salvation into your life. Then the work starts. You have to learn more about Him and live your life accordingly every day from that point on. Not just on Sunday and Wednesday night, but every day! Your life in Him cannot be just a once-a-week thing. The disciples couldn’t do it that way and we can’t either.

Belief takes faith and your faith comes from God. He chooses you to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus by faith and belief in Him. We don’t have anything to do with our salvation except our choice to give our hearts and our lives to Him. Do you have a choice? Yes and no. God chooses you when you realize that you need Jesus for your salvation. It is your choice to accept Him at that time or you will accept Him later. Once God has chosen you, then one day you will follow Him. I found this out myself when I felt the call on my life nearly forty years ago but I didn’t want to answer it at that time.

It took about thirty years or so before I surrendered to His call on me to be a preacher. The decision about my salvation came about when my son was born. I had accepted the Lord as my Savior a few years before he was born but when my son was born, I became more intent on following Him so my son would have faith in the Lord and be able to see it in my life. Kids today need to have an example in their immediate family, especially their parents. If parents don’t teach their children about their belief in a Savior, the world around them certainly won’t.

Reading God’s Word as a family is one of the best ways to show your faith and your belief to your kids. I didn’t do it as much as I should have until I became a preacher but he did come to Jesus as a child and I made sure that the home-school material that we used taught Scripture as well as his other subjects. Why? Because the pathway to wisdom begins with God’s Word. Wisdom is one characteristic that our world needs desperately. Real wisdom, not just education, is only found in the Bible by studying it daily, not just one hour on Sunday.