Believe.....It's more than you think....

Believe:

What does it mean to believe in God? The way that you answer this question could make or break the faith that you have. This word, "believe", is what we base all of Christianity off of. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". This is our trademark verse. This is what we find on bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and under Tim Tebow's eyes during a football game. My question for you is do we truly understand what it means? As I stated before, if we misunderstand this verse, it could bring our salvation into question.

Lets break down this verse into one word, "believe". By simply bringing some clarity to this one word, we can shed some light on what Jesus meant when He said this to Nicodemus. The Greek word used here for "believe" is pisteuō. The literal translation of pisteuō is to put all of our faith, all of our hope, and all of our trust in something. It is a lot different than just believing that God is real. James said in James 2:19 that the demons believe in God and "shudder at His name". We have to do more than just believe that He exist. We have to put all of our faith, hope, and trust in Him.

With this understanding of the word believe, let's evaluate where we are in our relationship with God. When troubles and trials come, are we full of worry and doubt or do we put all of our trust in God knowing that He will bring us through? With the financial crisis as it is in America, is our hope in our savings account or is all of our hope in the Father. When we get a negative medical report for us or a loved one close to us, do we have all faith in knowing that God is still in control? When you say that you believe in God, is it empty words or does it make something jump on the inside of you?

I challenge you to take your relationship with God to a new level this Fall. Really begin to believe in Him as Jesus requires us to do. Put all of your faith, all of your hope, and all of your trust in the God who holds all of us in His hands.

Trusting In Him,

Chris

True Worship

I think it is an universal issue that people generally have the wrong idea of worship. "I enjoyed the songs this morning, I was really able to enter into worship", they say. Or how about this one....."There was something going on with the sound this morning. I wasn't able to inter into worship". Here's another good one...... "The praise songs you did were great, but the worship songs didn't flow very well". I understand what people are trying to say in statements like these, but the theology behind it is wrong. I believe that if we get our theology on biblical worship down, our attitude behind worship will change.


The first thing we must realize about worship is that it is not an event, part of a service, time of day, or name given to a type of church service. It is not a style of music. It is not the slower selection of songs that we do on Sunday morning. Worship isn't just what we do when we are at church. It is not smoke and color lights. It does not start with a fast song and end with a slow song. It is not the congregational singing of "Just As I Am".


Each of us were created for one main purpose, to worship God. We are all born worshipers. Worship is wired in each and every one of us. It is the universal thing that God created all of us to do. Worship isn't something we have a choice in. It is wired in our DNA. 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year, we are worshiping. It's not what we do, it's who we are. We are always worshiping. The question has never been if we worship, the question is what we worship.


Finding out what we worship is pretty easy really. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your loyalty. At the end of that trail you'll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what you value the most. Resting on that very throne is what you worship.


Keep this in mind as you go through your week. We are always worshiping. You, my friend.....are a worshiper! Worship is a lifestyle. Making God the object of our worship is a discipline we must all practice.