I spoke with a man yesterday who has led a life of privilege. He attended the finest schools, traveled abroad, has “old” money, (lots of it), and was afforded every physical thing life has to offer. He traveled in the polo circuit, followed the fast formula cars, dated gorgeous models and actresses, drank whiskey and got high on cocaine.
He is brilliant and when that stunning intellect was combined with his powerful connections his career skyrocketed to the top of his field. He got married to a wonderful gal, but after about a decade their marriage dissolved and ended in a divorce. His roots can be traced back seven generations and family was always huge for him, but now all have died out save him and he described himself as the “last man standing”.
He had been close to his family particularly his mother and when she got sick he left his chalet and the ski slopes in Switzerland and stayed at her side for some two years and helplessly watched her health deteriorate, but alas nothing could slow down or stop her demise.
Now what?
No man can read another’s heart, but I get the impression he is very lonely and sad and disillusioned with life. He vocalized to me that he now believes in Jesus, but I’ve found in my own life that one can believe Jesus in varying degrees. There is the acknowledgment that Jesus is God, and died for our sins and was resurrected and today sits at the right hand of God relationship and there is the special relationship whereby He is the centerpiece of one’s life.
According to the Bible even the demons in hell believe Jesus is who He says He is and freely acknowledge Him: James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!”
Obviously that knowledge isn’t helping them. They are forever damned to torment.
Hmmm . . . It is obvious to me that the peace, love, and joy promised by God are not available through all definitions of “I believe”. We believe that the sun will rise again tomorrow; we believe the earth is round; we believe our president when he tells us that we can keep our health insurance; some may even still believe in Santa Claus.
Believing in Jesus has a different connotation.
So what does it mean to biblically “believe” in Jesus Christ?
When we say we “believe” in Jesus we are essentially saying that we trust Jesus with our very souls and if we truly trust Him we will be compelled to follow Him. In fact, the Greek word for “believe” used in John 3:16 is “pisteuo” means to “put one’s trust” in something. Read the verse below and insert “trusts” for “believes” . . .
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes (trusts) in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
“Believing” or trusting in Jesus in biblical terms means we will surrender our lives to Him. It means we have studied His word, asked for His forgiveness, pleaded for His guidance, and looked to Him in both good times and bad for words of assurance, love and joy. It means that we are willing to stand up for Him and what is right and true in spite of those among us who may scoff and ridicule. It means we will follow him and not the world.
In return He fills us with His peace, love, and joy, and we find rest in Him.
Have you found your rest? Are you content and full of joy? Or are you full of anxiety and worry about everything under the sun?
If you are not where you want to be then put your faith in Jesus; He earnestly wants you to put your faith in him whereby He can flood you with the warmth of his love.
I pray that my new friend surrenders his life entirely to Jesus and can therein find his rest. Nothing physical, nothing this world has to offer will provide much more than a momentary temporal quenching of that omnipresent innate longing for the presence of God in our lives. True rest is impossible without God.
Sex, drugs, alcohol, money, power, fame, and the attainment of great accomplishments all fade like a delicate flower under the scorching blazing hot sun. Jesus however is like a refreshing cool breeze on a hot summer day. Best of all His unconditional, unfailing love is free to one and all, but we must surrender . . .
In order to surrender we must put Jesus first in our lives and align everything else below Him. Have you surrendered entirely? What is interfering with surrender in your life today? Selah . . .
Psalm 37:7
Surrender yourself to the Lord . . .
July 8, 2014 – Click here to listen