Believe and be saved?

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Ac.16:31). The beauty of this message is that we do not have to struggle to earn our salvation and that it is a free gift from God to us. This distinguishes the Gospel of Jesus from all the man-made religions of the world. God gives us salvation from our sins and eternal life when we place our trust in His Son as our Saviour. This is almost unbelievable, but it is shown to be true because Jesus who offered Himself on the cross rose from the dead proving that He is truly the Son of God.

Since receiving salvation is the most important event for all of us, we must make sure that we actually receive it and not just assume it. So, it is important to make sure that what we believe is correct, and secondly, that we believe it in the right way. We can immediately see that we must not just assume that what we believe is right, or that our faith is genuine. It is worth all our effort to make sure.

Many people seem to think that as long as they believe in God it should be fine because there is a very popular concept that says that all religions ultimately lead to the same God, like different rivers run into the same sea. But there is a true God and many different false ideas about God. This true God created the whole universe, including us, and when we went away from Him made a way for us to get back to Him. That is why the Son of God came as a Man and died on the cross, to bear the sins of the whole world (1Jn.2:2). We must believe that we have sinned against God, and therefore deserve punishment, and believe that it is only through Jesus that our sins can be forgiven. Jesus came to deliver us from the guilt and power of sin (Mt.1:21).

If we are 'believing' in a casual way, we may imagine that as long as we believe that Jesus died for our sins on the cross we will be alright. But how this belief influences us makes all the difference. For example, many people who were born in Christian families believe these facts about Jesus, but it is obvious that for many, this belief has not made any difference in their life. They live like all the others, except that they consider themselves as Christians.

If we really believe that Jesus died for our sins, we will have to admit that our sins required Him to die. Our sins are not something God can just put aside. He and His Son together made a plan for this sacrifice which alone could pay for our sins. When we understand this seriousness of our sins and see the love of God in offering salvation for us in this way, we will not want to sin again. So, if we have the right kind of belief, it will lead to repentance from our sins and a cry to God for forgiveness and also help to overcome sin.