What does it mean to believe?

For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come (Matthew 11:13–14 ESV)

I have maintained our focus on believing from our last Glory & Grace Live Bible study last Thursday. Let me discuss the meaning of believing in today’s devotional. What does it mean to believe?

Two key processes underlie believing. They are “accepting” and “relying”. In Matt 11:13-14 above, Jesus told the disciples a very challenging truth that John the Baptist was Elijah who was to come.He then adds the words “if you are willing to accept it”. He presented new Information to them and they had the choice as well as the capacity to accept it as true. The Greek word translated “accept” here means to hold or consider something as true. That is at the core of what it means to believe.

The second key idea that flows naturally from accepting is relying upon the information. We naturally rely and depend on information we consider as true. For instance if you are walking and you see a large rock before you, you will naturally change direction because you believe what your eyes are telling you.

When the Spirit opened my understanding to know what it means to believe, I could not help but ask myself “do I really believe the Word”. What about you?

MEDITATE

Do you truly believe the Word? Are there portions you believe and others you do not?

APPLY THE WORD

E.W Keyon spoke of a state called “mental assent” in which believers just mentally nod their heads, so to speak, at certain passages of the Bible without truly accepting what it is saying as true. This is one of the biggest barriers of faith I see in Church today, that is, believers thinking we have believed certain things in scripture, whereas we truly don’t. Please start working with the Spirit to search your own heart.