And most probably, so do you. I believe in God, and I believe in Jesus. That belief is common everywhere, in church goers, and with those not going to church. Growing up in a southern baptist church, I was taught that believing in God was all that was required to be saved. Believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you shall be saved. Boom. Done and thank you very much, I have my “Get out of Hell” card stamped.
The problem is what we call belief, seems to be very different that what Christ called belief. When Christ said “follow me”, He meant it. Literally. As in, stop what you are doing now, and come do what I am doing. Come follow me and be radically different. A different purpose, a different mind set, a different set of values, come be completely different than you were before. Those that accepted the invitation, really did change. They believed and changed enough that the casual observer could see a difference. They believed and changed enough that people noticed them and called them “Christ followers”. Interesting to note that early believers called themselves “brethren, apostles, disciples” not Christians.
So what happened along the way? Why are we (modern day Christ followers) not noticeably different from our fellow students, fellow employees, our fellow anyone?
I would venture to say that we have corrupted the word believe. Even the demons believe, and they aren’t going to enter the Kingdom of God. Somehow, we have allowed ourselves to think that if we accept the truth that Christ existed, that He did come to earth, that He died for sin, then we “believe”. The problem with that line of thought is that nowhere in the Bible is that enough. Head knowledge of Christ without a radical new heart, without becoming a “new creation”, without a complete and total abandonment of self, is simply not enough. The rich young ruler wanted to be a Christ follower. He believed, and he obeyed the rules and laws as he knew them. So Christ showed him all that was required to believe and follow, and that all is everything. Literally everything. The rich young ruler believed, but drew the line with his wealth. We cannot have any lines. None. Because Christ calls for “all”. And His all is extreme obedience, and honestly, an extreme denial of self, and so we have chosen to water that truth down. Watered down truth is not truth. It’s simply a lie. A really comfortable, easy to wear lie. But a lie nonetheless.

Have you bought it? Math 7:21-23 scares me. It challenges me to ask myself if I have bought the watered down truth. I go to chuch, I give money, I go on mission trips, I’m a pretty nice guy.
In short, I believe.