Monday, January 30 – 2 Peter 1:16

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

We use the word believe in various ways. We use the expression “I can’t believe it!” even as we witness something because the event is hard to wrap our minds around. We say “I believe in ______” to describe what we understand to be true or even to express our trust in a person. Sometimes when we use a word in so many ways, it is hard to identify how we mean the word in a certain context. When we talk about believing in Jesus, we are not referring to whether we believe He was a person or not, that is proven historically. As Peter said, these stories about Jesus are not tales the disciples thought true—they followed Jesus as eyewitnesses of His majesty.

The question is, do you believe Jesus is who He claimed to be? The way you answer that question will change your life every day. If you believe in gravity, you will make choices informed by that. You may hold a handrail when something feels slippery or choose to place your coffee cup carefully at the center of the table instead of on the edge. Jesus shared with His disciples in John 14:10-12, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father.” Belief in Jesus is monumental; it changes how we live every day. When we believe the Word of God is true, we receive the disciples’ accounts as eyewitness testimony instead of nice stories. In this, we are transformed from bystanders listening to a story to active participants in the work God is doing.

• What would it look like to live like Jesus is who He says?
• How has faith in Jesus changed the way you live every day?
• Pray and ask God to prepare you to be an active participant in what He is doing.