and that will be enough
Do you believe in Jesus Christ? If so – and I sincerely trust that you do – what is it that you believe? These are not mere rhetorical inquiries nor are they intended to disparage or dismiss; rather they are posed to provoke, to call forth serious consideration of exactly who Jesus is and what he calls us to believe. Simple acceptance is insufficient, for Jesus demands that we not only believe in him but that we live in him and that through our living we bring testimony and glory to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity – Three Persons in One God
It is how we live our lives that give the truest reflection to how we might respond to the first question. Anyone can say “Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ” even while living a sinful life. Anyone can profess to be a Christian, ignoring all that is demanded to be a true and faithful follower of our Lord and Savior. Anyone can live in and of the world while loudly and publicly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Anyone can … but then anyone can be “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.” [1 Cor 13:1]
Jesus calls us to believe in him, to have faith in him just as we believe and have faith in God the Father. Throughout his public ministry Jesus continually told his disciples – and therefore each of us – that everything he said and did came from the Father and yet, no matter how many times he professed his complete and total unity with God the Father, his disciples – both then and now – have shown great reluctance in understanding and believing the truth of it.
We see the man and hear his voice but fail to connect the dots, to wed the human with the divine. Jesus said “The Father and I are one” and the Jews tried to stone him, for they saw only a man making himself to be God rather than truly God in human form [Jn 10:30-33].
We believe, yet we do not believe, much as the father of the boy possessed by a demon cried out “I do believe, help my unbelief!” [Mk 9:24] All too often, it is our unbelief that overwhelms our belief, our head rebelling against our heart, the visible denying the invisible.
Jesus tells us that “No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father” [Jn 14:7] and again we fail to hear the voice of God, we refuse to accept that it is God speaking, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indivisibly united in their Oneness. We still ask, as Philip did “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us” [Jn 14:8] and refuse to hear Jesus clearly and unequivocally reply “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” [Jn 14:9-10]
It is only within your heart that you may know and respond to the question as to what you believe. Only you and God know what you do and do not believe, and that means you and … God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
