Where Does Our Belief Come From?

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, AMP)

Everyone knows this verse. It’s one that kids are taught as one of the first things in Sunday school. It’s on t-shirts and written on the bottom of shopping bags. Even people that don’t go to church or subscribe to Christianity know this verse.

It’s a succinct and clear summary of the Gospel. It explains God the Father’s heart and His intention to save those who believe. It shows us what the true Church inherits for trusting in the Lord with all our hearts. It shows us the promises of belonging to the Lord and gives us the way to be recipients of them. 

But do we take this verse for granted? Are we desensitized to its meaning? Do we really consider each and every word of what it’s saying? 

The first part– God so loved the world– is a part that everyone loves to acknowledge and embrace. God loves us. He dearly prized the world. Most people think that the implication is that God loves us all and so there is no one that could be excluded from it. In reality, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee that was highly respected in the Jewish community. When Jesus says, “God so loved the world,” it was a radical idea, but only because it was the common belief of the time that God only loved Israel. 

By telling this Pharisee that God loved and prized the world, Jesus is showing Him that God’s plan and love has the ability to embrace all mankind. God’s love– popularly understood at the time to only be reserved for God’s “people,” which was Israel– actually encompassed all the world. Not the “world” as in the sinful landscape or culture of the earth, but the world as in mankind. 

Yes, God has love for mankind and has the ability to extend that love to all creation. Every tongue, tribe, and nation have the love of the Lord. But the next natural question is: are they then saved? Does God save all people that He loves?

If we read on in John 3:16, we see that no, that is not the case. It says God loved the world so much that He gave His only son– the gift we can receive– so that all who believe won’t perish to their sin. 

Yes, God is love and He loves the world so much. But that promise to both Jew and Gentile that they will not perish is reserved only for those that believe. 

This belief is not just a casual knowledge of God or a flippant statement that you think there is a God or that you believe that there was a Jesus that lived historically, but aren’t sure about the rest. 

This belief is more robust. It requires more than some shallow, elusive acknowledgement that you believe in a higher power or that you know Jesus died on a cross for your sin. This belief goes as far as being a trust. This faith that transforms and redeems and saves is the complete and confident abandonment of what we know and hold to, and the sure, steady leaning into that trust. It’s a love for God that leaves behind what you know and goes against what is normal and accepted. 

Only those that believe will be saved and not perish. Only those that trust in Him with all their hearts get to know in some small part the love that God has for the world. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

But again, there should be a natural question for us here: Where does that belief come from? Some would say it comes from us. That God’s love would cause us to turn to Him. That He waits for us to be persuaded to come to Him for salvation. That we have a free will to choose or not choose.

The more I think on that and the more I read God’s Word, the sillier that idea becomes to me. Throughout scripture, it seems that God shows us the opposite. In Philippians 1, Paul begins his letter praising the Lord for the partnership and fellowship of the Christians in Philippi since day one. He goes on to say, “may He who began a good work in you carry it on to completion.” (verse 6)

What good work? Their calling? Their church? Their popularity or the good things they’re doing for their community? No. This good work since day one is the salvation that God made possible in the Philippian church. 

God is sovereign and supreme. Of that, I’m sure we can all agree. God is all-knowing and all-powerful. I think we’re all on the same page for that as well. If all that is true, then how can we believe that God wouldn’t know who would be saved by grace and who would be a slave to sin? How could we believe even for one second that our belief or unbelief would shock God, like He’d be waiting by the phone for us to RSVP to follow Him? 

And more importantly, how could anyone possibly see, know, and experience the love that God has for us and choose to turn away? To be able to do so would be proof that they never really knew it to begin with. 

No, the truth is, God draws us to Himself and He empowers us by His Holy Spirit to turn from our sin and believe in Him. Only God has the power and the ability to help us trust in Him with all we have, and to lean on Him by faith. He equips us with every single thing we need to do His will, including supplying us with the belief that trusts Him to be our Savior and King (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Does this go against this widely held belief in the church today that God is a “perfect gentleman?” That He knocks on the door of our hearts and we choose to let Him in? That God facilitating salvation and sovereignly choosing those who would believe and have eternal life encroaches on our “free will?”

It most certainly does. But when I think about this, I can only turn to God and praise Him all the more. Thank God that I am not left to my own free will. Thank God that my salvation is not left up to me. Given the choice, without the help of God’s Spirit, I would choose my sin every time. I would choose to perish every time. Thank God that He really loves the world. Thank God that He sent His Son for all those that would believe, and thank God that He has called His Church to believe.

Does that mean we shouldn’t share Christ? No. It means we should share Him all the more, and share Him more passionately and concisely than we ever have. Because we don’t know who He will choose to call and draw to Himself. Because He used someone else to call you to Himself so that you could believe. Does this mean we should stop praying for those we know live outside His grace? No. It means we should pray more diligently, because there are many out there who claim to trust Him, but are led astray by faulty and counterfeit gospel. 

Only God can call men unto Himself (John 6:44). If you have been called to be His Church, then praise the Lord that God would pluck you out of your sin and draw you into His marvelous light. If you’re not sure, then open your Word and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you there. Search your heart for a belief that doesn’t just know, but trusts beyond all comprehension or reason. Ask Him to convict you and show you His heart for you. He will equip you with what you need.