Be-leave

Whenever we encounter the terms "faith" or "believe" in the New Testament, they are generally translated from the original Greek word “pistis”. (Leitch n.d.). This is the noun form of the word, "pistis", which is usually translated as "faith", whereas the verb form, “pisteuo”, is generally translated as "believe". (Leitch n.d.).
The Oxford Paperback Dictionary and Thesaurus defines the word as to “accept (that) something is true or someone is telling the truth”. (Hawker and Waite 2007, 77). Further research revealed its meaning to include “a confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proofs”. (Bethany House 2004, 34). Some texts also allude to the word as being related to the old English word, “geleafa”, which essentially translated into ‘holding dear’. (Harper 2001-2013).

Consideration of the text which we find in the Gospel of John since commencing this subject for my current studies, has reminded me of a song which my parents listened to often as I was growing up. It was by an artist called Don Francisco, and the song was called “Closer to Jesus”. The lyrics allude to the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34), and the man with unbelief whose son Jesus delivered from a demon (Mark 9:14-29). Scripture is littered with examples of people showing exemplary faith in God. But these two instances stand out for me because of the simplicity of their nature.

The woman with the issue of blood simply knew that Jesus was capable of healing her, even though she was unable to come face to face with Him:

(27) When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, (28) because she thought,
“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
(Mark 5:27-28, NIV).

The man with unbelief had the boldness to admit to Jesus that he believed, but that his faith was lacking. The response from Jesus was the personification of God’s words to Paul, which Paul recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) –

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

The boldness and courage which the man demonstrated in his confession of unbelief served as the very catalyst for the glorification of God in the matter of his son being delivered from the demon by Jesus.

Neither of these individuals needed lengthy sermons or physical evidence of who Jesus was before they approached Him. They were in a desperate situation and immediately believed who Jesus was, and trusted Him to irrevocably change their circumstances.
In contrast, the mercy and patience of Jesus is evident in the Gospel of John as He continuously reveals Himself to unbelieving people in order that they may believe. However, it is also telling of the Father’s relentless love for and pursuit of all that He has made, and illustrates the lengths which He will go to for us to believe and be reconciled with Him through Christ.

I would like to suggest that God not only loves us, but that He believes in us in the context of the old English understanding of the word – “to hold dear”. (Harper 2001-2013). The overwhelming thought of God holding us dear and loving us to the extent that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son so that we may be reconciled with Him, is something that may cause us to overlook the utter significance and simplicity of just who He really is and what the sacrifice of Jesus meant for all mankind. If we pause our lives for a moment to consider this – and choose to accept it as His unconditional gift to each one of us – then we may well come to a deeper understanding of how dear He holds us. May the simplicity in its magnitude stir in us a deeper desire to truly, without reserve and unequivocally LEAVE ourselves and our concepts of who God is and wants to be to us behind...and simply: BELIEVE.