What We Believe
5 min read
29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:29-33
Over and over again, the disciples feel that they truly understand Jesus and express confidence in their own faith in Him and faithfulness to Him. And I am like that too. “Believe” is the operative word.
Whenever I have confidence in MY ability to “believe,” Jesus will ask me, “Do you now believe?” Jesus knows how many times I will falter and stumble in the future because I really believe in myself more than I believe in Him. And yet, Jesus is so kind, merciful, and gracious, and He gently draws me into the truth of my very existence.
Jesus is the greater reality. And so Jesus is more worthy of my own “belief” than I am.
If I believe in myself more than I believe in Jesus, I can navigate this world quite easily. And that is because the whole world operates in the same manner and speaks in the same language of self-belief.
But when I doubt my “self” and trust only in Christ, the world will think me a fool, because the world does not understand the greater reality. And that is why when we really do believe in Christ and not in my “self,” we will find trouble in this world.
But even in the midst of trouble, we can have peace. In fact, if we have trouble in this world because we truly believe in Him, we will have peace, because the Prince of Peace has overcome this world, and we are in Him.
So I can take heart and have peace and believe in Christ and not in my “self,” even if doing so leads me into trouble.
Father, You are the Maker and Creator of heaven and earth. You have knit me in my mother’s womb. I do not even know my mother, but You know all things. You are the Reality that I must trust in. Forgive me when I trust in my “self” more than I trust in You. Grow my faith. But grow my faith such that I do not even trust MY ability to believe, but trust in You alone. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
