Faith in Jesus: What It Means to Truly Believe and Follow
- In John’s Gospel, “belief” is an action word, showing that real faith includes an outward response.
- Trusting Jesus means following Him as Savior, Lord, and King, not keeping faith quiet to protect reputation.
- Like branches connected to the vine, a life rooted in faith in Jesus naturally produces fruit that reshapes priorities and choices.
What does it mean to place one’s faith in Jesus? You’re probably wondering, as you’re considering this topic, exactly what you’re getting yourself into. It’s a great question.
You know, one of the places that I like to go to explore this is the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is a really interesting book, and I feel like there are so many great connections with our lives today. You see, this book was written to two different audiences.
One audience of Jewish Christians had been accepting of Jesus, had shared their faith with people, and had paid a very high price. In fact, they had been shunned from their community. They had lost business contacts. Family and friends no longer wanted to associate with them, all because they accepted that Jesus, the one that came to restore that relationship with God, was the Messiah.
There was another group, too. Perhaps this group was seeing what happened to the other group that had been outspoken with their faith, and they saw what could happen. And they weren’t sure: Did they really have to tell people that they believed in Jesus, or was it okay if they didn’t? So they didn’t, and they were trying to keep their faith quiet.
“Family and friends no longer wanted to associate with them, all because they accepted that Jesus…was the Messiah”
So the first group wonders, “Did we make a mistake?” And the second group isn’t sure if they really have to be open with their faith. And to answer these questions, John uses a very important word: believe. 
Belief is a verb in John. It’s used 98 times—98 times out of 150 times in the New Testament—and it’s a very important aspect of our faith. So when we have faith in Jesus, when we believe in Jesus, there is a corresponding action involved. We’re not talking about trying to save ourselves through works or anything like that. We’re just saying that when we believe in something, there should be some sort of an outward manifestation of that faith. Belief is connected to action.
So believing in Jesus means that we trust and follow him as Savior, Lord, and King in all things.
There’s a really good analogy in John 15 of the vine and the branches, and I love to talk about this one because here Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Now, some of you may be gardeners, and you know that the branches are where the fruit or the vegetables are produced.
Does the branch have to decide, “Oh, I’m going to produce something today”? No. It’s a byproduct of the nourishment that it receives from the main part of the plant. And so in our own lives, we should see things happening because of our relationship and connection to God. That should be seen in our priorities, in our money usage, in the way that we spend our time. We need to see a change. That’s the lens through which we make our decisions.
“Believing in Jesus means that we trust and follow him as Savior, Lord, and King in all things.”
Now, a good example of something we might be able to understand a little bit better here on earth is a covenantal relationship, and that of marriage. When we marry somebody, we agree that we’re going to deny all others. We are going to be solely and wholly devoted to that person. We’re going to invest time in that person. We’re going to invest in that relationship.
And that’s what God expects from us. When we accept Jesus, we are going to put away all other religious beliefs, and we are going to fully accept him as Lord, Savior, and King.
