Is Believing Required?
As I think back over the past years, one thing that was constantly being said was that in order for anything Jesus did to be ours, we had to believe it. You had to believe what He did or it just wasn’t in effect in our lives. This of course was used when things didn’t work out as well as planned in our day to day existence, because then if things were not going the way they thought they should be going, we were told it was because we didn’t believe enough. In other words, our faith had failed.
Is there supposed to be a scale we can go by says just how much we have to believe in order for redemption/salvation to be ours? What if it is on a scale of one to ten? At what point are we safe, so to speak. What if that scale drops to 5, are we still ok as far as making it to heaven is concerned? Or further still, what about the days we experience total disbelief and even wonder if there is even a God at all? Does that mean we are then no longer saved? Does it mean if we die in this condition that we would go to the hell the church has created and burn forever?
If believing for redemption is an actual fact then what about the devil? It says in James 2:19 that the devils believe. If believing was a requirement of redemption/salvation and the devil believes, would that not mean that the devil has been redeemed/saved??? Would that not mean that because he believes, his entrance into heaven has been secured, according to the preaching and doctrines of the evangelical church is concerned when it comes to those that make it to heaven or fail and make it to hell instead?
The issue of believing comes into real serious question when we look at the fact the devil believes. If believing is what makes our entry into heaven a reality, then we must agree that the devil will be there because it is plain in James that he does believe. Can you see how ridiculous this makes the issue of having to believe to be redeemed a fact?
Believing is very important because I can now say I did not consider myself a believer until the day I saw that I and the rest of the human race had been redeemed. That is what made a believer out of me. I did not have to believe to be redeemed but became a believer when I saw that I was already redeemed. And of course that was done apart from anything I did or did not do because redemption is a work of the cross and not a work of my belief or unbelief for that matter.
Jesus completed the work the Father had ordained before the foundation of the world and it was physically completed at the cross. The sacrifice was sufficient and the Father was well pleased with the Son. So do I have to believe for Him to be pleased with me? No, He is pleased with the Son and I am in the Son. We must remember that the Gospel is not about how I view God. It is about how God views me and He views me through His Son and the price He paid for all humanity on the cross. Never forget the fact that God concluded all under unbelief so He could have mercy upon all. Not just a few, but all.
