Belief

            According to Jay Smith, in his summary of John, the word “Believe” is said 98 times and the word “Life” is said 36 times.  John intentionally highlights these words to better express one of his main points. This main point is the fact that one must believe in order to receive eternal life.  This caught my attention, because I think John’s definition of belief is different than the one society holds true today.

            When I think of sincere belief, I think of children.  As a kid, I sincerely believed in Santa. Because of my belief, I would write letters to him every year trying to convince him that I had been a good girl (even though he already knew the truth).  My belief in Santa was so pure that I acted upon it.  Why would I write a letter to someone I didn’t actually believe was real?  Of course, all children are naïve, but God calls His children and I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.

            This analogy directly translates to how belief is understood today.  True believers in God will talk with Him as if He’s in the room, praise Him without regrets, and work to live after His example.  They’re the kids writing letters to Santa.  Other people will merely say they believe for social reasons, but they don’t act upon it.  They’re the kids who found out the truth about Santa, but kept their mouths shut in front of other believers.  According to John, it takes a true believer to receive eternal life.  When was the last time you wrote a letter to Santa?