"Believers?"

  I have heard over the years so many, who have little regard for God's word and little desire to worship, state without blinking an eye they believe in God! They call themselves believers but are they really?

  For someone to have faith, a saving faith, a faith that brings life to the heart of the believer through Jesus Christ, they will have a commitment to the Lord with their lives. Without a commitment to the Lord and His will is an unbelieving heart. Faith or belief is not just a passive statement that we believe God exists or Jesus died. It is committing ourselves to Him because the truths about Him move our hearts.

  The gospel came to us and we put faith in that gospel, responding to the call by being baptized into the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins (Mark 16:15-16). Jesus died for us and took our punishment, all of it. As a result of faith in that gospel, all our sins were cleansed when we were united with Him. ALL OUR SINS!

  The result: to believe in Jesus means we believe Jesus Christ does forgive our sins! We believe that not only He paid for our sins but they are gone, wiped away and washed us clean from them. Jesus not only forgave the big sins but every sin, even those we are unaware. He wiped them away and washed us clean. Sins that we are ashamed of and sometimes want to re-visit us mentally. All these and more Jesus not only can forgive but He DOES forgive! To say one believes in the Lord is to embrace and believe in His 100% cleansing.

  To believe in Jesus is to believe that first and foremost His joy in living is to glorify the Father! That means from morning until evening, our lives are spent pleasing to the best of our ability because we are conscious of the relationship wanting to bring Him glory from our lives. To believe in Jesus is to believe that it breaks the heart of the Father to hear His name maligned, misrepresented and misunderstood. We want to be pleasing with all our heart.  

  To believe in Jesus leads one to aligning with His children, to help those who stumble, and merciful all the time. It means we grow together, pray together and work together pointing one another to heaven, the goal. You don't attack but point one another to the Father. 

  To believe in Jesus is to embrace His agenda and methods because we can't truly believe in Jesus and at the same time knowingly and impenitently reject His agenda and methods. We can't have Him as our sin-bearer, our Savior without accepting Him as Lord!! That's what it means to believe in the Lord.