The simple definition of saving belief in the Bible, is the belief that Jesus is God’s son and he died on the cross in my place for the payment of my sin. The Bible teaches that this belief results in salvation. This is the truth.
But I think that what we believe, beyond the simple definition, affects what we are saved from.
I think it is possible to believe very little of the full beautiful gospel, and to be saved in a legal way, but miss out on being saved in the fullest way that God intends/desires us to be saved.
The implications of the cross are huge. I think that we stop too short in our belief. Each aspect of the gospel requires unpacking, and we need to examine our beliefs about each aspect to experience salvation in the fullest sense.
There is so much more to believe or not believe.
Who is God?
God is love. All his motivations are out of love. God is good. I can trust him. He is the source of life. He is the power source of our freedom. He is in control. I am not. He is the rightful authority. He has the truth about how life should be lived.
If you don’t believe he is good you may hate, or fear him.
If you don’t believe he is your source, you may not experience his power.
You may believe that Jesus died for your sins, but not really trust God’s way of life. You may continue to make decisions for yourself about how to live.
Who are we? What does it mean for us to be restored to our original design?
The truth is that you are God’s prized creation. You possess dignity. You are worthy of respect. You are worthy of high esteem. You are God’s chosen and adopted child. You are a loved son or a loved daughter. You are a citizen of heaven. You are God’s heir. You are worth dying for. You are worth saving. You are worth loving every day of eternity. God’s love is the source of all of our needs, and our very life. God’s love provides our identity, value, confidence, and security. We would become dependent upon God to get our needs met for love, significance and affirmation.
Do you believe this, or do you chronically struggle with looking to sources other than God? Do you go to other things to meet your needs, because you believe that they will fill you?
What is the truth about the world and its values?
Humanity and the whole world system is broken and needs fixing. Do you believe that there is anything to be saved from? We may really believe that the world is just fine.
What is our Purpose?
What is our mission in the world?
You could also believe so many versions of the gospel. If we don’t examine our beliefs, we can easily go very wrong.
If you believed that the message of the gospel was that you would go to hell if you didn’t pray a prayer, then you might pray a prayer out of fear and then just go back to living your life your own way.
If you believed that God is primarily an angry judge, then you might live in fear of sinning and losing God’s love. You might live in shame because you can’t live up to God’s standards, and give up in defeat.
If you believe that God only accepts those who perform you may work tirelessly to earn his approval but never reach your goal.
If you believe that God is primarily a loving father who has your best interest in mind you will receive life from his love, and desire to follow him.
If you believe God’s original design for life was good, you will want to return to it.
This is all complicated by the fact that we can hold contradictory beliefs at the same time. We have many subconscious beliefs, that are opposed to the intellectual belief that we think we have.
We should be searching ourselves to discover what we really believe. It doesn’t do any good to force ourselves to live according to truths that we don’t believe. It won’t work, because actions flow out of our deepest subconscious beliefs.
I think that if we want to be completely restored to our original design, and experience the abundant life that God offers, and experience God himself, then there is so much more to believe then the fact that Jesus died for our sin.
See the next post for an exploration of the concept of Salvation.
