“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” ―C.S. Lewis. When you believe in Jesus you rely on Him every moment

Believing is trusting–
Relying on someone
So much that
We comply
With what they say.

If we aren’t
Living in reliance
On the risen Jesus,
We’re living in defiance
Of Him.

To believe
In something
Is to rely
On it.
To rely
On Jesus
To comply
With His will.

My self-reliance
Puts me in defiance
Of God’s mercy
And grace.

When I deeply consider
My insufficient ability,
My unreliability,
And my emotional instability,
I realize
That it’s not wise
To rely on
Myself alone.

Belief in self
Eventually collapses.
Believe in Jesus
Who never lapses.

Believing in Jesus isn’t as easy as we’ve been led to understand. It involves relying on Him instead of on self-effort. When you believe in a chair you trust it; you rely on it; you surrender to it. When you believe in Jeus, you do the same with Him. Faith isn’t just a declaration of belief. It’s an ongoing demonstration of belief.

The more we trust in self-effort, the less we have faith in and reliance on the ever-living Jesus. The more we believe in (rely on) self, the less we believe in (rely on) Jesus. “He must increase; I must decrease.” Rely on Jesus first — more than on self, church, preachers, government, media, or anything or anyone else!

Pride often causes us to believe in (trust in) self-effort more than we believe in (trust in) the risen Jesus. When we truly believe in Jesus, we trust Him and rely on Him throughout the day. Until we do that we haven’t fully believed. To say we believe in Jesus if we don’t trust and rely on Him is a lie. We may acknowledge His existence, but we don’t fully believe.

To fully rely on God’s grace, we must deeply realize that we are lost and hopeless without His mercy and forgiveness. Following the risen Jesus and following self are mutually exclusive. We can’t do both at the exact same moment.

To rely on myself more than I rely on the ever-living Jesus is a sin. Instead of trying to love yourself more, start loving your neighbor (and your enemy) as much as you already love yourself.