Doing Belief

The day after Jesus had fed the crowd of 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish, the crowd caught up with Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Upon their arrival, Jesus told them that he was aware that they did not seek him out because of the work of heaven in the miracle but because he provided a food source.

He warned them not to waste their lives just pursuing food that spoils but to work for food that endures to eternal life.  "Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent'" (Jn 6:28-29).

Interesting that when they asked what works they should focus on, he told them instead in Whom to believe.  How was this the answer to the works or doing question?  Generally religious folk separate works on one hand and belief on the other, but Jesus puts them in the same hand.  How is that?

Here's the deal: To believe "in" is not simply to believe "that."  To believe that God exists, for instance, is not particularly a heavenly trait for "even the demons believe that" (Js 2:19).  But to "believe in" is the work of God because it changes the direction of one's life just as to believe in capitalism or to believe in socialism changes the course of a nation.  One could believe that either one exists without making any changes at all but cannot come to believe in without making changes.

So, to believe in is tantamount to placing trust in, to lean in or to walk in that direction.  To believe in is to adopt or to follow an ideal or an individual.  To believe in Jesus is to follow him, not just believe that he exists or even to be a a fan of his but to accept who and what he is to the point of following him as a course correction in one's life.

Real belief or biblical belief results in repentance (a change of mind that causes a change in direction).  When one comes to "believe in the one he has sent," he/she begins listening to and following after the teachings of Jesus - that person becomes a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ.

This is the work of God: To become a disciple of Jesus Christ, to pursue following in his steps as the primary direction in your life, to chose Jesus above all others, to make his life the template of your own.  Is that what you are doing?  Have you truly come to believe in Jesus Christ?  Are you doing belief or just having a belief?  Jus' Ask'n.