The Barrier
One of the hardest parts of my faith journey was transitioning from believing in God to believing God. To be honest, I still struggle with it from time to time. It is much easier for me to believe in God than it is to actually believe Him. I can believe in God without it affecting every aspect of my life. Sure, believing in God does have an effect on my life in some ways, but it can be pushed to the side if needed. Believing God, on the other hand, permeates every part of my being. Once the transition is made from believing in God to believing God, there is no pushing it to the side anymore and going on about my way. Believing God is a whole different ballgame.
As I read through scripture, I realize that I am not the only one that struggled to believe God rather than just believe in Him. Abraham and Sarah struggled to believe God when He told them that they would have children. They struggled so much to believe God that they actually took matters into their own hands and ended up making a royal mess of things! They both believed in God without a shadow of a doubt, but the extent to which they believed God was revealed when God’s promise to them did not manifest as quickly as they thought it should. They believed in God, but they struggled to actually believe Him.
I can relate. I find out just how much I believe God when things don’t go the way I think they should within the timeframe that I think they should. Those are the moments that remind me that believing in God and believing God are two VERY different things. Those are also the moments that remind me that my faith is still a work in progress and shine a light on some areas of my faith that God would like for me to continue to work on. It is God reaching down and saying, “Hey, I woke you up today. That means you are still not finished yet. There is still more work to do, so let’s go.”
So where are you? Do you believe in God, or do you believe Him? Many people think that believing in God is enough. I disagree. Jewish people believe in Jesus, but they don’t believe Him. They believe He existed and that He was a great carpenter and prophet, but they don’t believe Him when He says that He is God’s son sent to save their souls. Big difference.
Trust can be a hard thing to wrestle with. Doubt is a formidable opponent that many believers struggle with. Jesus’ own disciples struggled with doubt. John tells the story of Thomas, a fellow disciple famously known for doubting that Jesus had actually been resurrected from the dead. He had to not only see the scars in Jesus’ hands and feet, but also touch the wound in His side before he believed. Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not yet seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29)
What scars and wounds are you waiting to see so that you can transition from believing in God to believing God? What is it going to take to convince you that you can trust what God says? It is different for all of us, but believing in God is only going to take you so far. To truly experience life to the full that is promised to you by Jesus (John 10:10), you have to make the transition from believing in to believing.
The earthly life of Jesus began with a woman believing God. Did she question it at first? Yes, but then she believed. When Gabriel came to visit Mary and told her what was going to happen to her, she questioned how it could be considering her immediate circumstances (Luke 1:34). The angel then explained how God was going to accomplish His mission through her, and she believed even though it still went against everything she knew to be true (verses 35-38). Mary responds by saying in verse 45, “I am the Lord’s servant…” She knew who she was. Her identity was grounded in being a servant of the Lord. She had a solid foundation in Him, and that is what she deferred to when God’s plan did not seem to make sense to her.
So, what are you grounded in? Where does your identity come from? To who or what have you given permission to tell you who you are? Anyone that knows me knows how passionate I am about identity. I believe it is tied to almost everything. Mary knew who she was, but do you know who you are? When something came at her that didn’t make any sense, she went back to the root of who she was and believed. Luke 1:45 says, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what He has spoken to her.” She knew who she was in God and because of that, believed Him when He told her things that seemed unbelievable. Our lives are forever changed because Mary not only believed in God, but believed Him.
You are probably wondering why I am telling you all of this or what this has to do with anything. Here’s the thing, on Sunday Pastor Clay talked about sin living in us and how we don’t have to be a slave to it any longer. While he is absolutely right about that, if you have not transitioned from believing in God to believing God, I think this will be a big struggle for you. There are believers out there that know the scriptures inside and out. They believe in God, and they believe in Jesus. They believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They believe that He died and rose again. Yet, when they are faced with their earthly immortality, they begin to fear and wonder if they have been “good enough” to be with their Father for eternity. They believe in Jesus, and many times they believe what He said to be true in other people’s lives. But they don’t believe Him when it comes to their own life.
Consider John 16:33 with me for a moment. “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” This is where the rubber meets the road my friends. Nothing has the potential to rattle our faith and fling open the door for doubt the way trials and sorrows do. When trials and sorrows come, we are either shaken to our core drowning in fear because we only believe in God, or we stand firm covered in peace because we believe Him. It’s the same way with sin. When sin rears it’s ugly head in your life, you either continue to be a slave to it because you only believe in God, or you remind it that you serve a new Master now because you believe God when He says you are free.