{"id":2149,"date":"2020-05-27T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=2149"},"modified":"2020-05-25T16:55:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T22:55:14","slug":"believing-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=2149","title":{"rendered":"Believing in…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What might it mean to “trust the gospels” as I wrote yesterday<\/a>? “Oh yes, I believe the gospels are inspired, and I’m sure they are telling the story of Jesus accurately.” Will that do? Consider this verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in<\/strong> your commandments. (Psalm 119.66, ESV, emphasis mine)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to “believe in” God’s commandments? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, those of us in Colorado all knew the Denver Broncos existed, but most did not “believe in <\/em><\/strong>the Broncos.” We didn\u2019t think the Broncos were winners or even had a chance at the playoffs. Some teams, especially surprise contenders often have an \u201cI believe\u201d slogan as the season approaches its ending climax. People who believe in<\/em><\/strong> their team pay more attention to it. They\u2019re more vested in daily outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another example: COVID-19. Some people aren\u2019t believers. They\u2019re not changing their behavior. (Just as my daughter Melody believed in<\/em><\/strong> the existence of terrorists when she was in Israel. She stayed alert in airports while most Americans in airports ignored their surroundings.) Climate change is another. Some believe in <\/em><\/strong>it and are working to counteract it. Others don\u2019t and aren\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So do I believe in<\/em><\/strong> God\u2019s commands? How does that belief drive my behavior? I believe in 2 Timothy 2.2. I still think it\u2019s the best strategy for making and equipping disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who knows 2 Timothy has 4 chapters knows there is a 2 Timothy 2.2 in the Bible, but they don\u2019t believe in<\/em><\/strong> 2 Timothy 2.2. They haven\u2019t committed their lives to it as a strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would be true of all principles and commands in the Bible, would it not? Do I believe in<\/em><\/strong> them enough to act on them? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1.12, NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What might it mean to “trust the gospels” as I wrote yesterday? “Oh yes, I believe the gospels are inspired, and I’m sure they are telling the story of Jesus accurately.” Will that do? Consider this verse: Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. (Psalm 119.66, ESV, emphasis mine) What … Continue reading Believing in…<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-yF","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2150,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149\/revisions\/2150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}