John 3:16 Part 4

John 3:16 Part 4
16 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

That whoever believes in Him… Belief is such a tricky thing. It can change with time especially
as someone experiences different things in life. A strong belief can crumble with a disappointment or
difficulty but the opposite can also occur. Sometimes we also have a follow belief. We think we believe
until put to the test. Belief is central to our Christian experience and yet it’s something that we all struggle
with throughout our lives.

So what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it believing that he existed and actually walked on
this earth? Is it believing that he is the Son of God? Is it believing that he died on the cross and took our
sins? Is it believing that he’ll come again? Of course many people will say that it is all of those things. If
so, how do you build belief in those things? What can you do every day to be more firm in all those
things?

We know that it’s not just miracles, though they can have their place in helping, because Jesus
would refuse to do them to those asking for them. And several times the miracles did nothing to change
people’s minds.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign
will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:38-39

Reading the scriptures also has its place but is not the end all of gaining belief. Those who
rejected Jesus most were the well learned scholars and experts in the law. The words of Moses and the
prophets seemed to do little is growing belief.

Miracles and reading the Bible have their place but will always fall short without prayer and the
building of relationship with Jesus. Like Joshua crossing the sea, you must take that first step towards
God for the belief to grow.

14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing
the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the
feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its
banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still,
and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went
down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over
opposite Jericho.
Joshua 3:14-16

Growing belief is a journey and one that we have to take seriously. It should be a daily goal.
Blessings

Pr. Steven Couto