Believe!
Those who know me also know I thoroughly enjoy teaching. Fourteen-years as a professional tennis coach and 20+ years in full-time vocational Christian ministry has provided ample opportunities to teach.
On occasion I attempt to use humor as part of my teaching repertoire. For example, to get a point across, sometimes I point out three keys to learning: repetition, repetition, and, ah, I forgot the third one! Now, I didn’t necessarily say I use good humor!
All kidding aside, repetition is one of the keys to learning, so when the Lord repeats Himself, you can bet it’s important.
As we open the curtain to June 2024 I happen to be reading through the gospel of John during my quiet times, and as I do I’m again struck by the fact that the Master Teacher, our Lord Jesus, is using a word repetitively in His teaching — a word foundational to faith and a word important to our witness.
The word? Believe.
The word believe occurs many times throughout our English Bible translations. In the Gospel of John it is used around 90 times and in the entire New Testament well over 200 times. Here’s a biblical listing of believe you can access for further study. So what does the Bible mean by believe? The New Testament Greek word pisteuo (believe) means to “be convinced of something” or “give credence to.”
That “giving credence to” or “being convinced of something” as it pertains to belief in Jesus is not simply intellectual, it’s personal! In other words, a person must be convinced that it is an historical fact that more than 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins and rose the third day, conquering the power of sin and death. But being convinced of those facts is not enough. We must personally appropriate them as being true, believing He died and rose again for us. The punishment we deserve, He suffered for us. The third day He arose, proving that as God He conquered both sin and the death. As such, because He lives, we who believe in Him also shall live.
The difference between believing in Jesus and not believing in Him is profound – a matter of life and death.
For example Jesus says,
“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).
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
Believing in Jesus not only brings eternal life, it provides abundant life. Again, the Lord says:
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). (see also John 7:38, John 12:46, John 6:35).
To believe in Jesus also includes believing in His deity. He said in John 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (see also John 8:58, John 10:30).
In our witness, pointing people to read and study the gospel of John is always helpful. Among its many unique characteristics among the four gospels, one unique claim is its testimony and purpose, explicitly stated:
“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
In my years of ministry, both vocationally and personally, I have handed out and continue to hand out gospel of John booklets to people, challenging and encouraging them to read the gospel. An excellent ministry to acquire gospel of John booklets, and one I use even today in my witness, is the Pocket Testament League (ptl.org).
May you and I fulfill our role as His witnesses, proclaiming the gospel and pointing people to Jesus, that they may believe and have life in His name. Amen.