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I recently attended a memorial service for a friend of mine. The pastor gave a wonderfully passionate message about how this friend believed in Jesus as His Savior. The room was packed. This friend lived in a way that made his faith real to those of us who knew him. My friend didn't struggle with sharing his faith. In fact, I don't think he even thought much about the need to share. He simply lived his faith in a way that made words almost completely unnecessary. I think that's why so many people were at this man's memorial service.
My friend wasn't all that great of a communicator. He wasn't all that versed on the intricacies of Biblical interpretation. He wasn't all that polished and perfect. What he might have lacked in the skills we sometimes attribute to great evangelists, he more than made up for with his life. I've said it two times before. I'm going to say it again. This man lived his faith. The fact that he lived his faith turned out to be more powerful of a witness than any words one might use to describe his faith.
As the pastor spoke of my friend to the group that knew him so very well, he used one of the most recognizable verses in the Bible. This pastor quoted the following...
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
The pastor went on to talk about how my friend lived this verse. He focused on two words that really struck me. The pastor said that my friend believed into Jesus. If you go back and check the verse we just read you won't see the word "into." Our reading says "believe in", not believe into. The pastor went on to teach that the original language should have been translated "believe into". He then went on to talk about how it is easy to believe in. Believing into is something totally different.
To explain what he meant by that, he pointed to the podium in front of him. He said that it is easy to believe in the podium. You can see it. You can touch it. We so often simply think the proof our senses is enough when it comes to belief. Trusting our senses so completely is such a failed strategy in life.
The pastor then did something really amazing. He climbed up on the podium and hung on. He pointed out that believing into is different than believing in. He needed a faith and understanding that that podium would hold his weight in order to believe into the podium. That faith and understanding allowed the pastor to shift from the goodness of believing in the podium to the greatness of believing into that same podium. The pastor told us that our friend believed into Jesus rather than just settling to believe in Him. That's why this simple man had such impact on the lives of so many of us in that room that amazing day. His faith came from believing into something, not just believing in that same thing.
My friend believed into Jesus. He trusted that Jesus could hold the weight of his life. He understood the love Christ has for Him is worth all the hell this world happened to throw at him and his family. His belief into Christ made it easy for him to share his faith by simply living his life.
My friend's identity as God's Child was something that he believed into. His job wasn't ever going to catapult this man to greatness. His accomplishments weren't never going to amount anything important enough to fill a room full of people weeping over this man's death. This friend did more than believe in who He was. He lived in the faith of believing into what Christ says about him. That kind of life changes the world. His life changed mine and a lot of other folks sitting in that room that day.
It made me think about how I approach my life. Do I just believe in or am I also someone who believes into who I am? I'm not sure this man would have been able to see the difference in his life were he sitting in that room listening to this same sermon. I would be willing to bet that he thought himself falling short of believing into who he was just as profoundly as I feel at this moment.
Maybe God made it that way. Maybe we just can see the impact our identity is having in real time. Maybe it is through the lives of a room full of people who were changed by a life of one who believed into Jesus that this man could have seen the proof needed. Maybe that proof is best seen from heaven looking down.
All I know is something changed for me this day. I don't know if I will ever be able to prove I'm believing into who I am or not on this side of heaven. What I can do is to know that there is a difference between just believing in my victor status and believing into that same status. I want the best for my life. That best is when I choose to believe into who God says I am rather than just believing in the identity God has given me.
How do I do that? I think it is like tying to tie your shoe. You just do it. Somehow you learned how to tie your shoe. Now it is like a secondary function in your life. Trying to put into words how you do it is almost impossible. Though it is hard to describe how it is done, you just know how to do it.
Such is the way I think it is when it comes to believing into who we are. Today, I think I came into contact with the fact that I just know how to believe into. Whether I can describe it fully or be able to prove that I am doing so to the fullest might not be something all that easy for me to do. All I know is that I can believe into. Judging from this room full of people at this man's memorial service, I think that realizing that we can believe into has a power to change many, many lives.
I hope today's presentation opened your eyes to something different. I pray that you see how much power there is in letting your life rest in the belief into something bigger than yourself. It is when we believe into who we are as God's Child that I think this world becomes something completely different. Let who you are be founded and supported by the love God has for you. Then the challenges of this world might not be as impacting is they are when we choose to simply believe in who we are.
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