Believe and Trust

Lent
March 7, 2019

Scripture Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

But what does it say?
‘The word is near you,
   on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
–Romans 10:8-10

I do not know why I get distracted by the word believe. Perhaps I have heard too many times people expressing beliefs about God that are foreign to me. It is as if our stating that we believe something makes it so.  I have heard people state that our diplomatic policy is based on believing and verifying.  I know I am arguing semantics, but I think it is important that we understand what Paul is saying in the scripture above that to truly relate to God we are not waiting for a final survey that proves us right or wrong but are accepting an absolute.

The Greek word pisteuó translated as believe here is the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of his soul”; thus it stands α. absolutely to trust in Jesus or in God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something

I participated in a ropes course several years ago where participants were asked to cross their arms over their chests and fall straight-legged back into the arms of fellow participants who were serving as catchers. I did believe the catchers would do their job, but it took absolute trust to fall.

We live in a world where trust is sparse and even when we believe something, we are often skeptical. If ever there was a time for us to turn our eyes upon a Savior we can trust with all our minds, hearts, and souls it is now.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace**

Prayer: O Lord we cry to you as the father asking for his son to be healed did when he said: ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ (Mark :24) as we try to follow you in a world full of principalities and powers pulling us in every direction away from you. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/4100.htm
**First verse of Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus by Lauren Daigle see at https://www.google.com/search?q=turn+your+eyes+upon+jesus+lyrics&oq=turn+you&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.1140995j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.