What the Bible Says About Believing

In our new book, Resilient: Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church, we detail our philosophy behind resilient child discipleship: belong, believe, become. Or, as we refer to them in acronym form, “The 3Bs,” which we recently explained in detail on a recent episode of the Resilient Disciples Podcast.

The excerpt below comes from Chapter 10 of Resilient, in which Awana VP of Partner Solutions, Chris Marchand, dives into the biblical basis behind believing, which we define as “Deeply Scriptural ministry rooted in the truth of God’s word and the power of the gospel.” 

In John’s Gospel, he says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31) For every man, woman, and child, the primary role of the Gospels is to present the person of Christ with the most considerable amount of evidence possible.

No message or movement in all history has had an impact like the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Romans 1:16, Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” For Christ alone is the only perfectly qualified individual in all of history that can forgive sin and meet all the requirements of His divine standard.

READ MORE: What the Bible Says About Belonging

This is also the essence of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

We are reminded of this in many passages of Scripture. The impact of
God’s Word on those who believe in Him. Acts 6:7 says … “and the word of
God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” This is the power and impact of the Word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 reminds us of its power. The writer of Hebrews says, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks two essential questions of His disciples. Jesus asks, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” When it comes to belief, there’s the opinion of the crowd that will no doubt influence the perspective of many. However, Jesus makes a b-line to the crux of the issue, for each person must decide on their own if they believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God. As it was with the disciples, so it is for every person.

The core outcome of belief is to align and identify oneself with Christ. Belief is all about deeply scriptural ministry rooted in the truth of God’s word and in the power of the gospel.