What Do You REALLY Believe?

Who Am I, Really?
It is often quoted, “You are what you eat.” But I am not a tuna sandwich or a quesadilla. Perhaps what we eat gives us the energy to be who we are, but it is not who we are. Rather, it is our thoughts and beliefs that make us who we are. We do not name ourselves according to our culinary preference, but we proudly tell others the names that display what we believe. Our church group (what we believe about God), our political leanings (what we believe about how to help our country), our sports team (what we believe about that team—namely, they are great)—these are the things we talk about to indicate who we are (as well as other things, like occupation)

However, our beliefs are as complex as our thinking, and at times we say we believe something that contradicts what we believe about something else. And we also will say that we believe one thing and do another. I can say that I believe that people should be nice to one another, but if I found out my neighbor took my television without my permission then I might not be so nice to him. My wife would then point out the contradiction between what I say and what I did, and I will explain it to her: “You see, I think that we should generally be nice to each other, but if someone takes something from me, then I don’t have to be nice.” The reasoning may or may not be valid, but I only came up with the reason to excuse what I did. The reality is, what I said I believed originally—“People should be nice to each other,”— is different from what I really believed— “I will be nice to others as long as they are nice to me.”

Given that what we say we believe is so often contradicted by what we do, how do we know what we really believe. I say I believe in Jesus—but do I really? And how do I know? I think that if I make statements of belief—“I believe that Jesus is Lord”, that will be enough. If I know something, “Jesus rose from the dead” or “Airplanes are safe,” does that mean I believe in it?

Evaluating What We Really Believe In
Jesus recognized that often what we say and what we believe are two different things. This is why he gave us a test to find the true character of a person—what they really believe in, whether they are really good and bad. Jesus said, “We know a tree by its fruit. We know that a tree is an apple tree because it bears apples. And we know that a fig tree can’t produce pears. Even so, we know what a person is really like by their actions and careless speech.” (Matthew 7:16-20 and 12:33-36). Thus, we know what people really believe by how they behave in certain areas in life.

Below are six areas that, according to Jesus, indicate what we really believe. If we follow God in these areas, then we can say we believe in God. But if we do not, then we must believe in something else—for our actions are a mirror of our hearts.

Actions
As shown above, what we do with our lives—our work, our response to stressful situations—that’s what really shows who we are. We can say that we love God, but the question is, how do we show it? Sometimes the best way to determine our character is to imagine that a stranger who has never seen us before is presented with a videotape of our whole lives, with the sound off, so they can’t hear our own explanations of our lives. How would that stranger evaluate us? What would characterize us? If we stole, we would certainly be characterized as a thief. But we more often than not excuse ourselves, not wanting our actions to determine who we are—“Sure, I get drunk occasionally, but that doesn’t make me an alcoholic.” “Yes, I have hit my child in anger, but that doesn’t make me a child abuser.” Yet Jesus said that a person shows truly whether they believe in him as to whether they do what he says (Luke 6:46-49)

Wealth
Jesus says that what we do with our money and possessions indicates where our heart is, thus who we are (Luke 12:34). A person can say, “I believe that God will heal me,” but then why does he spend so much money on medicine? A person can say, “My comfort will be in heaven,” but then why does she surround herself with comforts on earth? If we want to see what a person really believes in, we can look at how they spend their money—that will indicate what they think to be most important in life. Jesus said that if we want to show that we believe we will get to heaven, then we need to take a substantial amount of our wealth and give it to the poor—not necessarily the church, unless they are serving the poor (Luke 12:33; Acts 4:34-35)

Words
As we said above, a person can say one thing and do another. But Jesus said that we should pay attention to people’s careless words—the statements they make when they didn’t have time to plan it out. Often that’s when people’s pride and anger and selfishness flare up. If we are planning a statement, that can be one thing we say, but the statements we use when we are being thoughtless and carefree—those are the words by which we will be judged, for those are the words that show what we really believe and so who we really are. (Matthew 12:35-36)

Security
At times we all feel insecure. We are often struck by anxiety and we don’t know where to turn. Where we do turn in those moments of crisis indicates what we trust in or who we think will pull us out of our fear. Perhaps we will turn to a family member—especially if they are wealthy—or a friend. Perhaps we have a habit or addiction that we think will make us feel better. Perhaps we have nothing we can rely on but our anxiety, but we say, “How I wish I had this or that”. That is what we really rely on, the person or object we truly believe in. But Jesus tells us that in our time of crisis, the one we can always count on, the dependable one who we can trust in is God. (John 14:1; Luke 12:30-32). To “believe in” God doesn’t mean to have the correct doctrine, it means that you will count on him in a time of crisis. So whatever we turn to in crisis, that is our real god.

Attitude
God makes it clear that he wants us to treat everyone according to their well-being. He wants us to do what is good for everyone we meet—whether that person is an evil person or a good one (Luke 6:27-36; Galatians 6:10). We can make a list of who we actually show care for and who we do not. “Yes, I try to help this person whenever I can. This person, though, is a dolt and so I avoid then when possible. I like to assist this kind of person, but this kind I detest and wouldn’t even give them the time of day.” By this test, then, we can often see what limits we place on our belief in God. We believe in God and in his ways when we are around certain people or situations, but in other ones we do not. If people respect us, that’s fine, we can believe in God in that situation. But if someone cusses us out, then we find it difficult to believe in God. For we know that we will be rewarded according to our love, not our doctrinal beliefs.

Promises
We often make promises and commitments, from appointments to projects we agreed to work on. Sometimes we do not even have a promise to do something, but we have a “social contract” with our family, in which our behavior is determined. And there are many things that we “believe in” that we commit to do, whether it be prayer or a favor for someone at church or visiting a sick person in the hospital. But what we believe in is not found in the promises we make, but in the promises we actually keep. We may “believe in” prayer and make a schedule for us to wake up a bit early to do it. But, when the time comes, we find that we actually believe in sleep more than prayer because the snooze button is hit until the prayer time has vanished. We may “believe in” visiting the sick, and so promise to do it, but when the time comes we find the television too alluring, showing that we believe in our comfort and rest more. Jesus said that we must fulfill our promises and so display our faithfulness, for what we do shows what we believe. This doesn’t mean that we are able to keep all our promises. Sometimes emergencies come up. But we must remember this, whatever we chose to do, that is what we really believe in. (Matthew 21:28-31)

Repentance
One last thing to note—Jesus is a firm believer in changing one’s ways. We know he believes in change because he forgives people their sin. He displays his belief of changed behavior by accepting those who have repented. Even so, if you evaluate your true beliefs and determine that you haven’t really believed in Jesus, it is not too late to change! Jesus said he will give you his Spirit and he will help you repent from your old life and begin to believe in Him anew! Pray for God’s grace and you will begin to truly believe in Jesus, not just in words, but in your whole life. In that way you will be a new creation, created by God to do actions in light of Jesus!

Evaluate your actions, and determine
what you really believe!

Do You Love Jesus?

Perhaps you’re thinking, “well, I guess so.” Or maybe you’re wondering which Jesus I’m talking about. But have you ever taken the Test to know if you love Jesus?

That’s right. There really is a test to know if you love Jesus. And it’s simple. You can take it right now.

Let’s suppose you want to know if Al loves Bob (no, not in THAT way—get your mind out of the gutter). The best person to ask is Bob. You might ask Bob, “Does Al love you?” Or you might ask, “Bob, what kind of person would you consider your great friend? What would he act like? Does Al act that way to you?” We can ask the same question of Jesus. “Jesus, what kind of person loves you?” The cool thing is that Jesus already gave us an answer: “The one who keeps my commandments, he it is that loves me and he will be loved by my Father.” (John 14: 23)

So here’s the test that answers the question, “Do you love Jesus?”— Do you keep his commandments?

Well, for most of us, that’s an even trickier question to answer that the first. Most of us who are Christians would probably say, “Yes and no.” Yes, because we try to obey many of them. No, because we fail so often. And besides, we’re still in process. Let me tell you a frightening secret: The level to which we obey Jesus’ commands is the level to which we love him! (check it out—John 14:21, 23; John 15:10) And the level to which we disobey Jesus’ commands is the level to which we rebel against him.
That may be a difficult pill for you to swallow. There are some main objections that come right to mind:

1. “Jesus called us to live by grace!”
Yes, that’s true. And God’s grace leads us to a life of righteousness which was clearly taught by Jesus (Matthew 7: 14-25). Jesus talks about grace in two ways in the gospel” a. The Father’s grace to draw men to follow Jesus (John 6:44); and b. The opening of blind eyes to see the gospel of Jesus (John 9: 39;Matthew 13: 11, 16; Matthew 16: 13-17). Jesus taught that grace is given by the Father to help us to follow Jesus. And following Jesus means to believe in him and to live by the example he taught and lived.

2. “I am saved by faith, not works.”
Yes, that is true as well. But even Paul said that our salvation leads into works: “We are saved by grace through faith... We are his workmanship created for good works in Christ which he has prepared for us to do from the foundation of the world.” (Eph. 2:8-10) Our faith isn’t an intellectual nod to Christ that is left on the doorstep of our hearts, never to enter into the arena of our lives. Jesus wants all of ourselves to follow him, not just our heads.

3. “Jesus was speaking to his disciples or to Israel, not to us today.”
If we refuse to obey Jesus’ commands, to follow him with our heart and life, then let us stop saying that we love Jesus. In fact, let’s stop saying that we follow Jesus or that Jesus is our Lord or that we’re even Christians! We can be called Paulists perhaps, Calvinists or maybe by a particular denomination. But if we refuse to listen to Jesus, let’s not claim that we have anything to do with him. No one who does not follow Christ could truly be called a Christian. So if you refuse to love him in the way he wants to be loved, you should drop the whole religion.

4. “Jesus’ commands are too difficult! I’ve tried, but I can’t obey them consistently.”
Jesus knows about your failures and is ready to forgive you. The one who seeks out God will be given the Holy Spirit and power to be able to live the life of Jesus (Romans. 8: 1-4). If we confess our sins, he will forgive us (I John 1:9). But those who refuse to repent in light of his commands, those who make excuses for what Jesus says, those who claim to believe but will not heed Jesus’ call to obey, those who lack single minded obedience to Christ— on the day of judgment Jesus will have but one thing to say to you, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Mt. 7: 21-23).

For those who truly wish to obey Christ, perhaps there is still a question: “Am I really obeying Jesus’ commands? I can’t even remember what they are! To help you out, here is a brief list of commands that we as Americans seem to have the greatest difficulty with:

Humility: “Whoever of you wants to be the greatest, you must be the least.“ (Luke 22:26).

Trust in God: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Mt. 6:34. For a fuller context, read Luke 12: 13-34).

Giving: “Give to the one who asks you and so not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42)
Attachment to possessions and Riches: “No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and riches.” (Matthew 6:24 also Luke 6: 24-25)
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted:” (Luke 12: 33-34)

This is a tall order for any of us. Probably every one of us can look at this list, as brief as it is, and say honestly to ourselves or to God, “I can’t do this. This goes against everything I’ve worked for my entire life.” I understand, living the life of Christ is a burden, but it is an easy one.

(This is one of the tracts I would hand out in front of churches)