July 6

Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. — 1 Pet 1:21 BSB

Notice the special mark given to those for whom Christ was revealed: “Through him, they believe in God.” If this is their distinctive mark, what does it really mean? Believing in God in a way that brings salvation is a profound thing. It’s easy to believe there is a God in nature, or providence, or grace, based on the letter of Scripture. This is what thousands do who have no true experience of God’s love and Christ’s atonement. It’s the great deception of our time—a religion followed by those who neither know God nor themselves, neither the law nor the gospel, neither sin nor salvation.

Believing about God, or believing that he exists, is entirely different from believing in God. Believing in God is a special kind of faith that comes with a spiritual and saving knowledge of him, as Jesus described in John 17:3. Such faith can only come from a personal revelation of God, from an encounter with his presence and grace. It’s not something we can achieve by natural means, but a gift of God through Christ. As the Apostle Paul said, this faith is “given on behalf of Christ” (Phil. 1:29).