Mar 7 A False Sense of Security

Deuteronomy 29:19  When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

I love it when different parts of my life come together, like the way this meditation complemented yesterday's message in church. Our church is starting a seven week series on the Apostles' Creed, and this week Pastor talked about the first two words, "I believe."

These two subjects come together on these two words - I believe. I think about how many young people, and older ones, who said " I believe" once years ago, and now they persist in going their own way. One young woman comes to mind immediately, well actually several. They said they had prayed to receive Christ as the Savior, or "into their heart." But they have chosen a life style characterized by anything but loving Christ or living out that belief. So we have to discuss what it means to believe.

Pastor boiled it down at the end of the teaching this way: I means me. Not what my parents or my church or my family believes, but what I personally have chosen to believe and am responsible for. Then believe: it means more than I think something is true. It has a sense of choosing to rely on that truth and to respond to it - to make choices based on this being real in my life.

So, if someone said "I believe in Jesus," we should see that belief influencing and changing his or her life. If the life is not changed in response to the belief, then we must question whether the individual really believes. Affirmation of something as fact is not what this Greek word means in the New Testament.

When Paul and Silas say "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," Acts 16:31, they are not saying you should just agree that he exists. They are saying put your faith in this reality - that Christ paid your sin debt and live out your awareness of this. Respond to His love. As you live out your belief or awareness of what Christ did for you because He loved you, you will love Him back. You will love His children. You will want to do what He tells you to do.

So there is that full circle here, praying some words, saying I believe when one's life says you didn't, leaves you living with a false sense of security.