Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

— John 6:29

30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

34 Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

— Acts 16:30-31, 34

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

— 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

— 2 Timothy 1:12

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

To tell an unbeliever to just have the faith, meaning positive vibe toward God or toward life, is confusing because the object of faith is not stated or clearly defined. Many people mistakenly believe they will be saved because they have positive optimism about life or about God. Sadly, this is a fatal mistake. The concept of having faith is biblical, but for salvation, faith must be in Christ specifically. Because the statements “just have faith” or “believe” do not describe a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ’s death for our sins and resurrection, this is a misleading message.

Another false gospel message implies that salvation is about maintaining your faith in Christ. If you happen stop believing, then you’ll lose your salvation and go to hell. In this scenario, the reason people go to heaven is because they faithfully upheld their faith and not because of the reliability of Christ to uphold them. The object of their faith for salvation is their own ability to hold or maintain their faith. The error boils down to reliance on your own faith rather than on Christ’s finished work for salvation.