Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?
Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?Many children (and adults) say something like "I have always believed in Jesus Christ." We need to teach them the difference between 'head belief' (which many have) and 'heart belief' which is what the Bible means when it talks about "believing in Jesus." Head belief doesn't cost very much and is worth very little. It may satisfy someone's conscience, but it will not satisfy a holy God.
WHAT IS HEART BELIEF?
HEART BELIEF is the kind of belief in Christ that we will have if we are true Christians.
HEART BELIEF is in three parts.
1. We hear a truth.
2. We believe the truth.
3. We commit ourselves to that truth.
For example:
1. We hear a parachute will save us.
2. We believe a parachute will save us.
3.We are not actually being saved by the parachute until we have jumped from the doomed aircraft and committed ourselves to that parachute.
The same principles of belief can be applied to faith in Jesus Christ.
1. We hear that Jesus through his death and resurrection can save us.
2. We believe that Jesus can save us.
3. We are not actually being saved by Jesus until we have jumped from our trust in ourselves or anything that we can do and committed ourselves to Jesus Christ alone.
It is only then that Christ enters our lives to take up His rightful place as our Lord and begins to transform us into the people He intends us to be.
Story - Blondin.
In 1860 the famous French tight-rope walker Blondin walked across the top of Niagara gorge. The huge crowd that had gathered to watch the feat applauded loudly. But them Blondin challenged them "How many of you believe that I can walk back across the rope carrying a man on my back?" Everyone put a hand up. They all believed that Blondin could do this. "Right" said Blondin "Which one of you is going to be that man?" Everyone's hand went down!
Although everybody in the crowd really believed in their heads that Blondin could carry a man across that rope, not one of them believed it in their hearts and were prepared to be that man and commit themselves to the tight-rope walker.
This story is a good illustration of the difference between head and heart belief. Likewise, many people believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for their sins, but they are not prepared to commit their lives totally to Him. They believe with their heads, but not with their hearts. The Bible makes it clear, however, that head belief will not get us into heaven. Heart belief - a total commitment to and trust in Jesus alone - is what is needed.
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 2:19 AM
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