What It Really Means To Believe

It all starts with belief.

Although, I probably don't use this word in the exact way most people think.

Years ago I was introduced to a guy named Jeremy, who has probably been more of a mentor to me than anyone else in my life just by nature of all the ways we're connected. The funny thing is, we've always lived in different cities and spent very limited time together in person. Crazy, right? It just goes to show how someone who's dedicated to having a kingdom impact, making disciples, and coaching people, can make a huge difference even over Zoom and phone calls.

Through our connection, Jeremy introduced me to a business and ministry partner of his named Stephen, who also became a friend as well.

Together the two of them had written and launched a story-based discipleship process years before called The Story-Formed Life (SFL). I won't be unpacking the details of SFL here, but I want to address one of the core truths they taught me.

The number one thing Stephen taught me is that belief is lived out.

He taught me that to the degree that you believe something is true, is to the degree that you'll walk it out in your behavior.

Most of us think belief is when we know something to be true, but that's actually a line of thinking that surfaced in the Renaissance. Over time humans have tried to separate the idea that action must accompany faith in order for it to be validated as faith. This is counter to what we see in scripture and what was widely accepted, prior to the definition change in the 16th century. Etymological dictionaries will show you this change in definition pretty clearly.

The word belief or faith that we often see in scripture has a root and origin in the word Pistis.