Have you ever thought about the things we believe? Specifically, the things we believe exist vs. the things we are relying on. You may be wondering, “What’s the difference?” Well, there are certain things we all believe exist, but we may not all trust in them.
I think there’s a huge difference between believing something is there without trusting in it. I can think of a number of examples just in my own life. For example, I believe there’s a program called Social Security to provide for my financial welfare when I’m retired. However, if I have my own retirement plan set up, such as an IRA (and I’m contributing significantly to this fund) then that may be what I’m truly depending on for my retirement years. So, while I believe Social Security is there, I’m not relying on it to provide for me in my retirement years.
The way things are looking that may be a wise choice. Our political leaders have been talking about the viability of Social Security for years. I remember writing a paper on this subject in college. That was 20 years ago. You can go across the entire political spectrum and find that there’s a virtual consensus on the need to address Social Security being available for future generations. It seems, though, that can keeps getting kicked down the road. It’s just one of those things no one wants to address. I guess it ends up falling in this big black hole. The generation that truly cares about it now (and is probably the most active voting block) is already collecting their checks, so they’re not going to push for any reforms. Then there’s the younger generation. Retirement’s not even in their thought process right now, so they’re not going to push for any reforms either. As far as the middle-aged generation, they’re probably relying on the fact that any legislation introduced to change it would have to grandfather them in to the system as it currently is. So, we can see that, as a result, there’s no active political push from the voters for change. Certainly if anyone talked about getting rid of it there would be a huge uproar from the public. So, there’s no political push to change it, yet the system is not sustainable as it is. This is why no politician wants to touch it, besides the fact that it’s a tough problem to solve. The result is, though, that this makes for us an unreliable system. It would only be prudent for us all to have a retirement fund of our own to rely on.
So, this is just one example of many in our lives. It’s one, though, that I think we can all relate to, as it affects all of us at some point. I think it’s important that we make a distinction between what we believe and what we are trusting. How do I know what I truly believe? Well, in this example, I can say that I’m trusting in my own IRA for my retirement years. I can say, “I’m not relying on Social Security. I’m relying on my own IRA.” But if I’m not contributing to it or don’t even have an account set up, I might end up getting to end of my life only to realize that there’s nothing there. So, I guess this begs the question, “Do I really believe it?”
How does this translate into our spiritual lives? Well, this proposes an important question for all of us. Many of us say we believe in God, but can we really say we’re relying on him. You may wonder how much difference there is. Well, I’ll tell you, it can make all the difference in the world. Similar to the example with Social Security, I can say I believe in God without realizing that I’m not truly believing.
Acts 16:31 says, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” There’s an important distinction made in this verse. And it all rests on one little word. If you’ll notice, it says ‘Believe on’ and not ‘Believe in’. What’s the difference? Well the reason it doesn’t say ‘believe in’ is that this alone doesn’t bring us to a saving faith. ‘Believe in’ just means that I believe in the existence of Jesus Christ, while ‘believe on’ means that I’m placing my trust in Him and relying on Him for my eternal salvation. ‘Believe on’ denotes an element of trust. ‘Believe in’ is like saying, “Oh yeah, I believe you exist, but that makes no difference to me and my life.” Do you want me to prove it to you?
James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” So, as we can see from this verse, while demons believe in God, they never trusted Him. They certainly never had a saving faith. They were on the wrong side of belief. It says that they also believe, and tremble. The reason they tremble is that they never trusted Him.
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Psalms 20:7 says, “Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” I think in this verse we are shown where a lot of people are placing their faith. They’re trusting in the tangible things of this world. Things that aren’t lasting. They aren’t trusting in the eternal God of Heaven. This is an important distinction for us. We can easily get caught up in the things that we see. It can deceptively seem that we can trust in these things. We can learn, however, that these things all fail at some point. Our money can fail, our political system can fail, and even people can disappoint us and fail us at times. If we look to God, though, and trust in the work of His son, Jesus, on the cross, we are standing on solid ground.
Psalms 9:10 says, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” We can see here that we can trust in God. It says here that ‘they that know thy name’ can trust in Him. Why? Because they’ve seen God help them and work in their lives in the past. The reason they’ve seen God’s work in their lives in the past is because they trusted in His name in their times of trouble. So, we can learn that we can trust Him through experience. This is how we know what we are truly ‘believing on’, by what we are trusting day to day.
Acts 16:31 says, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
Psalms 20:7 says, “Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
Psalms 9:10 says, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”