“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It isn’t our sin that condemns us; it is what we do with Jesus. If we believe He is who He says He is, and trust in Him as our personal Lord and Savior, we will be saved (from eternal death and punishment.) Jesus has already paid for EVERY sin mankind has or ever will commit. It is finished!

John 3:18 came up as the ‘verse of the day” on the YouVersion  Bible app the day after my pastor preached a wonderful message on “Finishing Well.” In his message he talked about the two end of age judgements. (1) The judgement of the unrighteousness (lost) to eternal death, and (2) the judgement of the righteous (saved) to eternal life. In the judgement of the righteous our works are what come under judgement. They will be tried by fire and we will be rewarded based on what survives the fire. (John 5:24)

The timing of this was confirmation to me that God wanted me to be at peace. As Christians we will battle our sin nature as long as we are on this Earth.  Most of my life I have struggled to understand this whole issue of sin, because let’s face it — NONE of us are perfect. Being a believer does not give us a license to sin (Romans 6:1-2), yet we have confidence knowing if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. (1 John 1:9) 

The Bible say no one is righteous, no.not.one. (Romans 3:10) So how many sins does it take to send us to Hell? Just one … rejecting the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) 

If belief in Jesus is the condition of salvation it stands to reason we must truly understand what it means to believe. I love John 1:12 in the Amplified version of the Bible: “But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name–” ‭‭JOHN‬ ‭1:12‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Let’s look deeper at these three definitions of true belief by examining them in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. 

They adhere to Jesus. To adhere means to support, to maintain loyalty, to bind oneself to.  Synonyms include: cleave, cling, stick, bind, fuse, unite. 

They trust in Jesus. To trust means to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of something, to place confidence in, to confidently hope or expect, to commit or place in one’s care or keeping : entrust, to place confidence in or to be confident of: hope. Synonyms include:  commend, commit, confide.  

They rely on Jesus. To rely means to be dependent on, to have confidence based on experience. Synonyms include: depend, lean, reckon  

True belief in Jesus demands action. Adhere, trust and rely are verbs. Is isn’t just a state of mind, it’s a state of being. Do you believe?  

Prayer: Lord, thank You for paying a price I could never pay. I can’t imagine carrying the weight of the sin of mankind on that cross, but I believe You did and I believe I have eternal life because You did. Thank You for purchasing my salvation. I will spend the rest of my life adhering, trusting and relying on you. Forgive me for the role my sins played in sending You to the cross. I repent — I turn around and run toward You, rather than from You. Lead, guide and direct me Lord. I surrender.