Yesterday I talked about the connection between free will and our work to believe from the standpoint of accountability. In other words, if we choose to believe in Satan instead of God, we are responsible for opening the door to hell and the death it brings. My unbelief is my saying, “No!” to God. But then there’s the explosion of LIFE that we unleash when we believe in Jesus Christ. If our unbelief ushers in death, then we likewise open wide the door to the Life and power of Christ when we BELIEVE in Him. And it’s this truth that Satan would keep from us if he could.
Why Don’t I Have a Miraculous Life?
I want to please God. I want so much to hear Him say, “Well done!” Yet there is a part of me that remains fixated on performance and appearance as the means to please our Father. And it’s maddening to be so unable, so often, and so universally. But God isn’t coy or shy or withholding about what He wants from me. He’s absolutely clear on this point.
They then said, What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]
Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].
John 6:28-29 AMPC
I just haven’t had enough respect for the work to believe, but that’s changing. This is the one assignment that God gives us to do, because our free will cannot be overridden. But it’s more than just that. I think that God wants us to experience the miraculous LIFE that takes over when we cling to Him in all reality. And that clinging is key.
What would my life look like if I didn’t believe in gravity? Please bear with me for a moment of ridiculousness. If I truly, positively DID NOT believe in gravity, my (incredibly short) life would reflect that. Sooner or later I would simply step off a roof or balcony or cliff or overlook. Of course I would! Without the looming threat of gravity pulling me to the ground, there would be no reason not to step out into the air as freely as I would walk along the ground. And then I would pay the price of not believing the truth. Splat!
My Miraculous Life is Waiting For Me
With this example in mind, what would our lives look like if we truly, positively DID believe in Jesus Christ? What if we believed in all that He is, all that He promised we’d have, and all that He is empowered to BE in us? Like Peter, we would dive off the boat and run on water.
There is nothing – NOTHING – that God can’t do with one who believes. And that’s why it is so attacked by Satan. John the Baptist had a crisis of faith because his belief was under attack. He asked Jesus, “Are You the One Who was to come, or should we keep on expecting a different one?” That’s the question that I ask, even if I don’t ask it aloud, when my life looks grim. When I have trouble reconciling what I see with what I think I should see, doubt slithers in the window. But when I hurl myself at Jesus, He will slam that window shut.
I want the miraculous life, and it’s mine to receive when I believe. No growing into it, I believe into it. How marvelous! Far from being trapped in my life, God gave each of us the power to choose a life of gray decay or brilliant Technicolor. We just have to BELIEVE. Wheeeeeeeee!
