Belief versus faith

This is another “what’s the difference” article. Is there a difference? Yes, there is.

It’s easy to believe that Jesus lived and even died on a cross; but, to believe that by putting your faith in Jesus’ death on the cross can forgive all your sins (past, present and future sins) and their penalties and can give you Eternal Life because Jesus rose from the dead to conquer death – that’s a bit harder. When you do that, the Bible says that Jesus wants you to trust Him with your life now and be committed to serving Him. God knows that you need to grow in your faith and by doing that, you will want to serve Him faithfully. Jesus will let you know how He wants you to serve Him. He let me know!

If you don’t trust Jesus with your life, then you don’t have faith in Him. If you don’t want to serve Him, why is that? Is it because you still want control of your life? You don’t want anyone else telling you what to do, including Jesus/God? I think that is sad. It’s sad when I’ve done that at times. I want to be totally committed to Jesus!

So, what’s the difference between belief in Jesus and faith in Jesus? Belief is you agreeing mentally and faith is believing and being committed to Jesus.

The Bible sometimes uses belief and faith interchangeably, but it also has certain distinctions for faith and they are very important.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

* What is grace? It is God giving you what you don’t deserve, which is forgiveness of sins.

*” Saved through faith” means saved from your sins and their consequences – that is mercy!

*” Not from yourselves” means there is no salvation by what we ourselves can do.

*” Gift of God” means God sent His son, Jesus, to earth to die for our sins and rose again to conquer death for us so we can have Eternal Life from the moment we put our faith in Jesus through our entire time in Heaven forever with Jesus. Yes, everyone must die a physical death, but the second your body dies, your soul is then immediately in Heaven. So, you’ll never die – only your body dies, your soul is then in Heaven, unless you are without faith. Then your soul is in hell. God created all mankind as eternal. We have a very critical decision to make for where we spend eternity.

*” Not by works” means that doing good deeds in order to earn salvation is rejected by God. He said that all of us would be boasting that we saved ourselves. There is nothing we can do for that to happen because we all still have our sinful natures in this life. The only way to be saved from our sins is by confessing and repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection because Jesus is sinless! God the father only allowed His sinless, perfect Son to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. A sinful person cannot die for another sinful person’s sins.

When we put our faith in Jesus, we become righteous in God’s sight, even though we still have our sinful nature on earth. God wants us to allow His Word and His Spirit to grow our faith deeper in our soul. When our faith grows deeper in our soul, we become deeper in our relationship with Jesus and become more like Jesus.

I pray you will allow that to be a priority in your life.

We will never be totally sinless in this life even though through God’s eyes, we are because God looks at us through what Jesus did for us on the cross and our faith in Him. When we die and our soul goes to Heaven, we will be totally sinless! The ability to sin will be no more! I’m really looking forward to Heaven!!! There will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more death. It will be an eternity of perfection! Yes, I said perfection. All you perfectionists out there that know Jesus should be ecstatic! All with faith in Jesus should be ecstatic! Woo Hoo!!!

If you have any questions about this, please put them in a comment to me here.  Thank you.

Sharon

This is another “what’s the difference” article. Is there a difference? Yes, there is.

It’s easy to believe that Jesus lived and even died on a cross; but, to believe that by putting your faith in Jesus’ death on the cross can forgive all your sins (past, present and future sins) and their penalties and can give you Eternal Life because Jesus rose from the dead to conquer death – that’s a bit harder. When you do that, the Bible says that Jesus wants you to trust Him with your life now and be committed to serving Him. God knows that you need to grow in your faith and by doing that, you will want to serve Him faithfully. Jesus will let you know how He wants you to serve Him. He let me know!

If you don’t trust Jesus with your life, then you don’t have faith in Him. If you don’t want to serve Him, why is that? Is it because you still want control of your life? You don’t want anyone else telling you what to do, including Jesus/God? I think that is sad. It’s sad when I’ve done that at times. I want to be totally committed to Jesus!

So, what’s the difference between belief in Jesus and faith in Jesus? Belief is you agreeing mentally and faith is believing and being committed to Jesus.

The Bible sometimes uses belief and faith interchangeably, but it also has certain distinctions for faith and they are very important.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

* What is grace? It is God giving you what you don’t deserve, which is forgiveness of sins.

*” Saved through faith” means saved from your sins and their consequences – that is mercy!

*” Not from yourselves” means there is no salvation by what we ourselves can do.

*” Gift of God” means God sent His son, Jesus, to earth to die for our sins and rose again to conquer death for us so we can have Eternal Life from the moment we put our faith in Jesus through our entire time in Heaven forever with Jesus. Yes, everyone must die a physical death, but the second your body dies, your soul is then immediately in Heaven. So, you’ll never die – only your body dies, your soul is then in Heaven, unless you are without faith. Then your soul is in hell. God created all mankind as eternal. We have a very critical decision to make for where we spend eternity.

*” Not by works” means that doing good deeds in order to earn salvation is rejected by God. He said that all of us would be boasting that we saved ourselves. There is nothing we can do for that to happen because we all still have our sinful natures in this life. The only way to be saved from our sins is by confessing and repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection because Jesus is sinless! God the father only allowed His sinless, perfect Son to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. A sinful person cannot die for another sinful person’s sins.

When we put our faith in Jesus, we become righteous in God’s sight, even though we still have our sinful nature on earth. God wants us to allow His Word and His Spirit to grow our faith deeper in our soul. When our faith grows deeper in our soul, we become deeper in our relationship with Jesus and become more like Jesus.

I pray you will allow that to be a priority in your life.

We will never be totally sinless in this life even though through God’s eyes, we are because God looks at us through what Jesus did for us on the cross and our faith in Him. When we die and our soul goes to Heaven, we will be totally sinless! The ability to sin will be no more! I’m really looking forward to Heaven!!! There will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more death. It will be an eternity of perfection! Yes, I said perfection. All you perfectionists out there that know Jesus should be ecstatic! All with faith in Jesus should be ecstatic! Woo Hoo!!!

If you have any questions about this, please put them in a comment to me here.  Thank you.

Sharon