Many times in the gospel of John, and in other places in the New Testament we read the words of Jesus, “believe in me*”.  It is repeated so often that these words, along with “love one another” become the bottom line of his message to us.  It is what God most desires us to do.  What does Jesus mean when He asks us to believe in Him?  One part is to believe He is who he says he is-the Son of God.  The divine in human form, sent to earth to show us the true nature of our Father Creator.  The nature of love as it was intended to be known and practiced.  This is a concept, an idea we accept as true.

But I find in the Lord’s words, “believe in Me”, a request for much more than our intellectual agreement with scripture.   He is asking for a deep life response to Him. He asks us to trust Him, to understand that He does desire to lead us through our lives, to understand that we are not left at the mercy of fate but are held and taught according to His plan for us, the ways He knows are best for us even and especially when those ways are difficult.   His call to believe in Him is also a call to obey Him.  In order to obey someone, we need to know what they want us to do.  That direction is given to us through the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit, who lives within us in a deeper way from the time of our baptism as Christians.  The Lord makes His desires for us, His directions for us known through scripture and as we listen to Him in the quiet of our hearts.   And as we learn to know Him more and more, we learn to not fear whatever He might ask of us.

The most central thing Jesus has ever asked me to do is to learn to let Him love me.  He is wanting to teach each one of us that daily.  But in order to let our Lord or anyone love us, we need to make daily choices to let the walls we have built around our hearts be taken down.   As we do this, as we let Him touch us, heal us, fill us, we then become able to follow, what I believe is the Lord’s other greatest commandment to us.  We grow in our ability to truly love one another.  All of these things together — our belief in Jesus as the Son of God, our trust in Him, our obedience to Him, our receiving of His love, and growing ability to love each other - these things together are the source of so much joy and peace.  Surely they are worth the journey.

Today Melinda is making an adult, public decision to receive Jesus as the Son of God, as her Lord and Savior.  It is a step of faith and commitment, made to God and to each of us.  We are honored to be witnesses in this act.  We are also called to renew our own commitments to our Lord and Savior, to seek to follow Him, to seek to let more and more of His love fill our own lives.  May His name be praised.  

*
Matthew 18:6  "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mark 9:42  "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

John 11:25  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

John 14:1  "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.

John 16:8  And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9  concerning sin, about sin, because they do not believe in me;

John 17:20  "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,
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