For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.     John 3:16 NKJV

I can remember memorizing this verse in Sunday School as a child. It’s probably one of the first verses I could recite. We often recite it. People wear it. But do we truly understand it? Do we truly believe in Him?

If you ask people if they believe in God, many will tell you yes. But they may not live as though they believe in Him. Do you? Do you live your life as though you believe He is the only begotten Son sent down to earth to die and rise on the third day to save you from your sins? Do you believe He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6)?

If you answered yes to these questions, that’s the easy part. Living like you believe it is not so easy. Living as we believe in Jesus means we live in awe of Him. It means we have a reverential fear of Him. It means we understand His strength and His power. We understand He disciplines us when we do wrong.

When we understand these things, our faith is strengthened. We trust in Him to handle whatever comes our way. We know He is there beside us to walk us through the fire and the flood. We need not worry because we know we can give our care to Him. Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our burden on the LORD and He will sustain us, and He will never allow the righteous to be moved. We are told in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. In Philippians 4:6-7 we are told to be anxious for nothing but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God and the peace that passes all understanding will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

If we believe in Him, we believe in His Holy Word. We trust in Him. It is human to fear, but we never allow that fear to overcome our faith. Instead, we trust in Him and allow our faith to conquer our fear.

When we believe in Him, we want His will to be done because we know His will is best for us. We trust in Romans 8:28 which tells us all things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. We know our job is to love Him with all our hearts and serve Him and do what He has put us here to do. We know if we do this, He will work all things out for our good.

I spent many years of my life saying I believed in God and not meaning it. I prayed for my will to be done because I thought it was what was best. It would take a few times and many years of God showing me that only He knew what was best for my life because only He knew what my future held.

I now thank God for not giving me everything I asked for. I thank God for giving me what was best for me, not what I wanted. I have come to trust in this. I have come to pray that His will be done, not mine. I know that my heavenly Father knows best. I believe in Him. I trust Him to take good care of me.

There is a hymn that uses 2 Timothy 1:12 which says, “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him until that Day.” Once we accept Him as our Savior and truly believe, no one can destroy our salvation. He will uphold us with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

God loves us more than we will ever know. He wants us to come to Him. He wants to be there for us. He wants to protect us and keep us safe. If you truly believe, you will let Him do that. You will trust in Him and be eager to serve Him.

If you truly believe, you shall not perish but will have everlasting life in heaven with Him.

Have a great day!