Believing In vs. Believing

I've been cleaning out some rubbermaid tubs in our garage that came from my parent's old house. Yes, it's been a while, but the nesting stage continues. I opened up a small tub full of stuff from my early school years. One of the folders that I opened was titlted "My Family of God". I attended a Catholic grade school for 8 years and then moved on to the public school system. This book was part of our religious education that we received at St. Charles. So I read through the book and some of it made me literally laugh out loud because I was only 8 when I wrote in it, but some of it really made me think and reflect on my faith journey. I started to think about my journey and it sort of came down to the difference between 'believing in God' and 'believing God'. That's a title from a Beth Moore bible study, but it fits well to the illustration of my faith journey. When I was little, and even through high school really, I was one of those people who really just believed that God existed. It's not a terrible place to be compared to many alternatives, but it's definitely not what it means to be a believer. In the bible, there is a passage that states that even the demons believe in God. To believe in something means to believe that it exists. Yes, I do believe in God. However, I don't just believe IN God, I believe God. I believe that what He says is true. I believe His Word is infallible and that His promises will come to fruition. And because I believe all of this, my life is changed. I don't live a perfect life. In fact, I live very far from it. But I'm striving to live as I believe. I have been feeling very discouraged but challenged by the term "Christian" lately and I think it's because many of 'us' are living as though we just believe in God, rather than actually believing God and believing His Word is life-giving and life-saving. So, I will ask.... do you just believe in God? That He just exists? That He sits up in heaven and just watches us go about our lives? Or do you believe Him? Do you believe His promises? Do you read His words and apply them to your life? Do you trust that He cares for you and will do whatever it takes to bring you to Him? Are you willing to believe Him?

I never knew how thought-provoking a 3rd grade assignment would be 19 years later :)