Declare and Believe

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 NIV

Paul makes salvation sound so easy: declare and believe. That's all there is to it. How hard can that be? As we all know, the simplest things are sometimes the most difficult. As humans, we struggle with belief; our default mode is doubt. In doubt, there is less chance of hurt. If we choose to believe, we might be proved wrong. We also wrestle with acceptance and obedience, where our comfort zone is in control. But, in accepting, we relinquish this to Jesus.

Before declaring that Jesus is Lord, we must make him our Lord. And to make Jesus our Lord, we must first accept what we know of him is true–believing everything about him that he is part of the Trinity, the Son sent by the Father, the heir of David, and the Messiah spoken of by the prophets in the Old Testament. He was born of the virgin Mary, lived sinlessly as a mortal man taught, performed healing and miracles, and suffered and died for our sins. By his death, we are given spiritual life.

We must also believe in our hearts that not only did Jesus live and die, but God raised him from the dead–he conquered the grave. Sure, some people die for a few minutes–in the case of Lazarus, a while longer–and are brought back to life, but eventually, they die again. But Jesus still lives! At this very moment, Jesus is alive! And in his resurrection, we may have eternal life with Jesus as our Lord in his heavenly kingdom.

Father God, thank you for your sinless Son, who suffered and died for us. We openly confess Jesus as the Lord of our lives. We believe you raised Him from the dead, and he resides with you, preparing a place for us. Yet, he remains with us in spirit, acting as our mediator, hearing and answering our prayers. Help us to be your faithful followers and witnesses in the world today. We humbly ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Blessings,

Pastor Tim