Is believing once good enough?

Scripture Read: Romans 15:8-14 For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Your name.” 10 Again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.” 12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.” 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 14 And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another 

Application: What does it mean to “believe” according to the Word of God? Surely we have to admit that context is essential. There are so many scriptures that point out that people “believed” only to see them fall away. Consider the parable of the soils (Matthew 13:1-23) So we need to be careful when we count ourselves as one of His because we say we “believe”. That word really takes on meaning based on the context we use it in. Notice …  

“In believing” is “en tōi pisteuein” (ἐν τωι πιστευειν), literally, “in the believing,” interpreted, “in the sphere of the act of habitually believing.” ^[1]

What a great truth – we don’t just believe – we must continue to believe. Many say they believe in God for salvation at one point, yet seem to cease to trust Him with their life! Obviously there are two possibilities for these individuals. Many made a one “moment” proclamation of belief that was merely emotional and so no real understanding of being lost, under judgment, or eternal separation was present, so no conversion took place. How many that claim to be in the Body of Christ are in this predicament? Jesus warned of this in - Matthew 7:21–23 - The other outcome is the carnal life that some believers have. Could this be why many believers seem to lack joy and peace? Joy and peace are no more a one-time possession than faith is a one-time action. Yes – coming into a relationship with You does happen at one point in time when we understand what it means to be lost and reject that option, opting instead to humble ourselves and trust in the sacrifice of Christ to forgive all of our sin, and make us children of God. Yet, it is clear from scripture that the initial act of believing is just the beginning of our trusting relationship with You. At that moment we ARE Yours forever, but for us to sense that and experience Your joy and peace, we must continue in that belief. If we do not – for most, it exposes that we did not enter a relationship with You through conversion, instead we felt an emotional need for You and called out, but did not surrender ourselves to You as Savior and Lord. For some – we did come to a point of understanding, entered a relationship with You through trusting faith and we were converted from children of this world and separation to Your children and joint heirs of Christ. Then we took back control of our life and now do not experience the joy of a relationship with You or the peace You offer. If we remain here we will die with great doubts of where we will spend eternity because we have no sense of Your presence due to the fact that we run our life and You are an after thought. We must continue in trusting You and in doing so we will continue to sense Your peace and joy. Perhaps the way we need to train our mind is to ask the question – if I feel like I am lacking His peace and joy – it would be wise to check and see when was the last time I trusted Him for something. That might lead us to a real discovery. Dad we want to see ourselves trusting You continually – thank You for Your wonderful grace. 

* Meditation Questions: What evidence do I have of what I really believe in? How does my life show I trust in Jesus Christ? Am I worried what we happen to me after I die? What does that say? Is my life just “getting by” or is it filled with His joy and peace? What does that say?  

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^[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.