Believe+Receive=Become

We need to clarify for the unchurched that intellectually believing in Christ is only part of the answer. One way is to use a Bible verse that provides a spiritual equation that spells out with math-like efficiency what it really means to become a Christian.

As I recite John 1:12, I ask them to listen for the active verbs: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."

Those verbs make up the equation:

believe+receive=become
To believe is intellectually to agree that Christ sacrficied Himself to pay for the wrongs we've committed. That's important, I tell them, but don't stop there. Some people sit in churches for years, stuck at this point, and they wonder why their spiritual life is stagnant. The next verb in the equation is critically important, too. We need to receive God's free offer of forgiveness and eternal life. We have to claim it for our own, because until we do that, it's not ours; it's just something we know about in our head. So it's necessary for us to admit wrongdoing, turn away from it, and humbly accept Christ's payment on our behalf.

That makes sense, doesn't it? Jesus said, "I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners."

—Lee Strobel

I think Lee is on to something. I particularly find it interesting how in reading the verse he pulls out the verbs involved in becoming children of God. Yet I note that the verse actually says receive+believe=become. Is there a difference if the order of the equation is changed. Not mathematically, but perhaps theologically and I can't put my finger on it.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church