I believe in Jesus. What does this statement really mean? What does it mean to you? These may sound like silly questions, but I’m being quite serious. I wear glasses. I can say that I believe in glasses, but until I actually put them on they won’t help me see any better. In other words, I can believe in my glasses but they don’t benefit me until I actually put them on.
So if you believe in Jesus, what does that really mean? Do you just believe that He was a good man? Do you believe that He is the Son of God? Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins? Do you believe that He died and rose again from the grave? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?
I am asking a lot of questions this time because this is very important. What you really believe about Jesus will determine where you will spend eternity. Some people believe that Jesus was a good person. The Bible says that the demons even believed in Jesus and they even knew that He was the Son of God (Matt. 8:29).
So being a Christian, a true believer, is more than just believing that Jesus was a good man. Being a Christian is more than just saying the sinner’s prayer. Romans 10:9-10 states, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”
There are some really key things in these two verses. One is that we are to confess the Lord Jesus. This means more than just half-heartedly saying, “Jesus save me because I don’t want to go to Hell.” To confess Jesus as your Lord means that you realize that you are not in control, you are giving your life over to Him. You are submitting yourself to Him. Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. He commanded us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and that we are to love our neighbor as our self. Jesus summed up the 10 Commandments in these two commandments. If we really love Jesus, we are to give up our sinful desires and replace those desires with God’s desires. We are to be obedient to God out of our love for God.
Secondly, verse 10 says that with the heart man believes to righteousness. If we truly believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, God gives us a new heart. We are born again. We no longer desire the things of the world. We desire the spiritual things of God, to please Him. The righteousness mentioned here is the righteousness of Jesus, not our own. We can’t do anything to earn our salvation. Salvation is a gift from God.
So if you say you believe in Jesus, please make sure that you really believe in Jesus. Surrender your will completely to Him. Keep His commandments. I don’t mean this in a legalistic way. We should keep His commandments because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us.