"BELIEF" PROPER

Another significant lesson from 2023:

It has become clear to me this past year (and I have written about it several times here) that we as Christians are deeply confused about what is involved in "believing in Jesus". 

Mere mental assent to propositional truths - "God is three persons in one", "Jesus was like us in every way but was without sin", "Regeneration precedes faith"*, etc. - is not what Scripture means by "believe". 

We can argue doctrine all day long, but orthodox doctrinal statements do not save anyone.

Belief IN JESUS is at the core of salvation and it is a "belief" which goes far beyond "belief" in His existence or "belief" in this or that doctrine.

The belief in Jesus at the heart of Christianity is a love and trust that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as the Son of God, is a definitive demonstration of God's great love for humanity. 

And something which you have experienced as life-altering!

It is the difference between me saying "I believe my wife exists" and me saying "I believe in my wife". 

"I believe my wife exists" requires nothing of me beyond mental assent to the obvious.

"I believe in my wife", on the other hand, assumes her existence as a matter of fact but then goes on to express so much more: my love, admiration, and trust of her. 

And where does that love, admiration, and trust come from? 

It isn't something conjured from my imagination.

It comes from relationship. 

(* It doesn't. 😉)