Q:
Many people I know say they believe in Jesus, even if they don't go to church or anything. Is believing in Jesus all it really takes to get into heaven?
A:
Many people do say they believe in Jesus, but what do they actually mean? Perhaps they believe Jesus existed; they also may believe His teachings are worth following; they may even believe He was the divine Son of God, sent from heaven to save us from our sins (as the Bible teaches).
And yet for far too many people, one thing is still missing, and that is commitment. To put it another way, they have believed in their minds, but they’ve never acted on it. They’ve never personally committed themselves to Christ and invited Him to come into their lives to change them and make them part of His family.
Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose you went hiking one day and you came to a footbridge crossing a deep valley. You examined it and it looked sturdy; you also saw other hikers safely crossing it. In your mind, therefore, you had faith in that bridge; you believed it would hold you. But simply believing the bridge would hold you wouldn’t get you to the other side! In addition, you’d have to put your trust in it and actually commit yourself to it. Only then would you really believe in that bridge.
The same is true with Jesus Christ. We may believe He is the Son of God; we may even believe He can forgive us and save us. But we only truly believe in Jesus when we personally commit our lives to Him. Have you taken that step of commitment? Jesus said, “You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1).