All-In Faith

by Skip Heitzig | March 8, 2024

In the 1800s, a missionary named John Paton went to some islands in the South Pacific. He wanted to translate the New Testament into the language of the people group there. As he was translating, he had problems with one word: he couldn't find the right equivalent in their language. It was the word believe—the word for faith, trust. He couldn't quite get the right meaning.

One day, as he was leaning back in his chair with his feet up, he asked a tribal elder, "Do you have a word in your language that describes what I'm doing?" The elder gave him a word that literally means "to place all of your weight upon."

People these days say things like, "You just got to have faith" or "You just need to believe." Believe in what? Have faith in what? Faith in faith? Faith has no intrinsic value; it's only as good as its object.

You can place your faith in the universe. A lot of people talk like that: "I'm just going to throw it out to the universe, man." You can place your faith in fate, or you can place your faith in humanity. But that won't help you. You might as well place your faith in a banana peel.

Your faith has to be in someone who can actually help you, who can actually save you.

Christian faith is the contact point when a person believes the gospel and experiences salvation. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

In his epistles, Paul the apostle was very specific about the faith he was referring to—objective faith. In Colossians 1:4, he didn't just say, "We've heard of your faith," but "We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." It has to be in Jesus. It also has to be authentic, real faith. I would call it raw faith. It's what Paul said in Romans 10:9. "Believe in your heart" means "in the core of your being."

Faith doesn't mean some superficial acknowledgment like "Oh, yes, I acknowledge there is a God." James 2:19 reminds us that even the demons believe there is a God and that they tremble. To believe in your heart is to really believe—to be all in.

Listen to what John 3:16 sounds like, using John Paton's equivalent in that South Pacific island language: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever [places his whole weight on] Him should not perish but have everlasting life." That's what it means to believe from the heart, to place all of your life upon Him.

The moment you do that, salvation happens. And for some people, it's a very emotional experience. I've seen people come forward who have tears in their eyes. Others come joyfully ecstatic. When I came to Christ, it wasn't like that. But I did feel as if a huge weight was lifted from my soul.

The writer of Acts said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (16:31). So, the whole idea of the faith we're talking about is all-in faith. You put your whole weight, your whole life, and your whole future on Jesus, the one who gave everything on the cross.

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