Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:30,31
There is a subtle, though very important, difference between believing in something or someone and believing on it or them. e.g. Let's think of a rope. We can believe that what we see and feel is a rope. We can believe that as a rope it is able to keep us from falling as we climb a cliff – we believe in that rope's ability to hold us safely. But, our faith is actually demonstrated when we fully depend on that same piece of rope to do what we say we believe it can do i.e. when we climb up or down that cliff with the rope attached to us as our only safety. It is then that we are really believing on that rope, depending absolutely on it, and it alone, to save us from plunging to our death.
In our spiritual life the same holds true. We can believe in the historical personage of Jesus. We can believe in the stories of His life. We can even believe in His promise to come again soon. All of this is very important; we do need to believe in these things. But, the crunch comes when we are faced with the decision as to whether we are actually going to believe on Him for moment by moment living. Do we really believe that He knows what is best for us in every situation? Are we willing to give up our thoughts, our words, our actions and our plans, cheerfully accepting what He unfolds for us in their place?
As human beings, most of us do not like to give up our own will. Many are fiercely independent. We don't like to have to rely on anybody else. This starts very young; we hear the two year old say, “Me do it!” as he, or she, struggles with something that is clearly way above their level of ability. In the same way it is not natural for us to want to depend on Christ. We want to “do it”; and we want to “do it” our way; totally oblivious to the fact that to successfully live the Christian life is way above our level of ability. Jesus said that, “Without Me ye can do nothing.”? John 15:5. Do we believe Him? Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24
The apostle Paul put it all very succinctly when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth...” Romans 1:16.
This gives us a definition of the gospel. It is simply “the power of God”, not our power, that brings about and maintains our salvation. And this power is available to “every one that believeth”. This means both to believe in, and even more importantly, to believe on, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; to depend on Him every moment of every day, for everything.
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 24,25
