I started following Jesus and put my faith in Him when I was 7 years old.  I remember throughout my childhood being taught how important it was to tell others about Jesus.  It is what Jesus commands us to do.  In Matthew 28:19 Jesus tells us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”

Growing up in Sunday School, we were taught to witness to others by starting a conversation by simply asking people, “Do you believe in Jesus?” It worked.  It was simple and it was an easy way to begin talking about Christ with others.  This would evolve into something more powerful, but it was awesome to be equipped and empowered to reach people for Christ at such an early age.

However, as I have grown in my faith, I have started noticing that it isn’t enough to just believe in Jesus.  I have witnessed people of all ages who had been active church members all of their lives, that later realize that they had never truly given their life to Jesus.  It wasn’t enough that they believed in Jesus.  I know many of you will be thinking, “Yes, I do believe in Jesus and that is enough.”  Just give me a second to explain, hear me out.

The Bible tells us in James 2:19 that, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble with fear” (NLT.) Satan and the demons believe in God and they believe that Jesus died and was resurrected.  They know what it cost Him to die on the Cross.  But even though Satan believes in Jesus, he will not go to heaven and spend eternity with our savior! It is not enough that he believes, it is about trust!

Billy Graham said, “ The word ‘believe’ in the Bible means more than simply agreeing in our minds that something might be true.  It means ‘trust’-that we believe so strongly in God that we are willing to commit our lives to Him and live the way we know He wants us to live” (Billy Graham Evangelical Association, June 2004.)

We need to live in a way that we shows people in our lives that we truly trust Jesus and live this fact out loud.  To declare that we won’t just “believe” in Jesus, we will trust Him with all we have and serve Him boldly.  When we trust completely in Him we will be able to share our beliefs with others and ask the simple question “Do you believe in Jesus?” But I pray that we will follow-up with the question “Do you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”  I pray that you will.

Be bold, Be brave, Be Blessed!

Whitney

Have you ever felt like there was a time in your life that you believed in Jesus, but you didn’t trust him?