“For
God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that
whoever believes in him shall not perish,
but
have eternal life.”
(John 3:16)
Believing is the
beginning and the being of discipleship. Believing has a beginning at a
point of time and continues through time unto eternity.
It
is not easy to begin to believe that the Omniscient, Omnipotent Creator of
Time and Space invaded time and space in flesh and blood and was born as
son of David. If it was easy, would Judas betray Jesus for thirty silver
coins? He betrayed Jesus because he failed even to begin to believe in
Christ.
Evangelist Billy
Graham says Christianity is nor a religion; but faith in a Person called
Jesus Christ. How many of us have put that sort of faith in Jesus, even
once?
The Greek original of John
3:16 uses the word ‘pisteuo’ for ‘believes’. This action
includes (1) self-assurance that Jesus is God’s Son and Only Savior (2)
self –surrender and obedience to Jesus and (3) self-assurance that Jesus
is able and willing to bring one to eternal life. Hence believing is both
a momentary action and an ongoing action. In John 5:24 Jesus says: “I
tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to
life.” The Greek text uses the present participle ‘pisteoun’
here stressing the ongoing action of believing. Saving faith is an
activity, something the believer does, or better still, continues to do.
Hence, when Jesus was asked: “ What must we do to do the works God
requires? Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the
one he has sent’” (John 6:28,29). Here faith becomes work and the work becomes
faith. Discipleship begins with faith and is constituted by working out
that faith. Believing is the source and substance of discipleship.
But it is this sort of
faith, which is both static and dynamic, that is always under challenge.
Saint Perpetua was 22 years old and nursing a baby in 202 A.D. She refused
to renounce her faith in spite of the pleading of her pagan father or even
for the sake of her child and was beheaded along with four other
Christians, after first being savaged by wild beasts. They exchanged kiss
of peace before being put to death. That is believing unto death and
eternity.
Others have not been as
faithful. St. Peter failed to believe continuously and denied Christ for
social acceptability. He repented and was eventually martyred. Faith in
Christ has a cost which few wish to pay. Christians have denied Christ for
a pot of porridge, to preserve their possessions, to protect their family
or to prolong their life. Faith is costly because grace, which initiates
it, is costly. ‘Grace is costly because it costs a man his life’ wrote
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer [1]in ‘Cost of
Discipleship’, eight years before he was put to death by Hitler.
Being a true disciple of Christ, he could, at the time of his death say:
‘This is the end--for me the beginning of life.’
Faith is under greater challenge
today. It is reported that in 1996, more people died for their faith in
Christ than in any year in history. What about us? Do we place our faith
above our social acceptability, possessions, family and life ? Are we
willing to pay the cost ofDiscipleship
Today?
