Our 69th Word is Believe
The simple definition is to trust in a person or a claim one considers credible.
“Then Jesus told him, ‘Go back home. Your son will live!’ And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.” (John 4:50)
“Aman’s got to believe in something,” says a character in a Peter DeVries novel, before pausing and adding, “I believe I’ll have another drink.”
We might question the man’s choices, but there’s no denying his point. Humans have to believe. Not believing is not possible.
Everybody lives by faith of some sort, all day every day. Faith that our very existence is real and not an elaborate hallucination. Faith that certain actions will produce certain results. Faith that the brownies left in the break room are full of deliciousness and not some deadly toxin.
That we all believe is undeniable. Figuring out what we believe is where things start to get interesting.
In the fourth gospel, John was obsessed with the idea of belief; in fact, he used forms of the verb believe almost a hundred times!
The word conveys the idea of trusting in something or someone, you regard as trustworthy. You believe because, well, a person or claim strikes you as believable.
John is honest about why he wrote his account of the life of Jesus. After relating certain teachings of Jesus and selected miracles, John concludes, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31).
John was saying that of all the things we could choose to believe in this crazy world, he wanted us to trust that Jesus is the God sent Savior of the world, John was convinced the life we need is found only in Jesus. He wants us to believe that too.
Skeptics argue that believing in Jesus is like believing in the tooth fairy or Sasquatch, or believing that Captain Marvel is real. The Creator entering His own creation? The Almighty working as a carpenter in first-century Israel, then being executed and rising from the dead? John is essentially saying, “It might sound farfetched, but I was there. I saw what I saw. I know what I know. I’m asking you to trust my testimony. More than that, I’m pleading with you to put your faith in the One I’m telling you about.”
The tricky thing about believing is that it takes faith. That’s not meant to be a wisecrack. Rather, it’s a recognition that it always comes down to trust. Ultimately, we have to regard someone’s word or research as credible, then put our confidence in their character.
Some days, believing the claims of the Christian faith comes easily. Other days, our hearts fill with questions and what ifs, and believing is like storming the beach of Iwo Jima.
Maybe this is why in John 15:5, John records Jesus’s statement, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Such a sweeping statement would seem to mean we can’t even believe without help from above.
Having trouble believing? Ask the Lord for the grace to trust His words.
Questions to Ponder
- What are some “nonspiritual” things you believe deeply?
- Why, really, do you hold the spiritual beliefs you do?
- What convinces you those things are true?
No Thought Police 