You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder! –James 2:19
The Democratic Party made an interesting decision this past week to take the word “God” out of its Party Platform. The result was a firestorm of people claiming that the Dems don’t believe in God, and it led to one reporter sharing the statistic that 87% of Americans believe that God exists. Now my point here isn’t to say whether it was right or wrong to make such an adjustment to the Party Platform (which was later reversed, anyway). My point is that a lot of people believe that God exists, but that doesn’t make the United States a “Christian” nation. Belief that God exists isn’t enough because even the demons believe. It’s an interesting statement that James makes. Typically our lack of belief in God is due to His invisible qualities and the fact that we can’t see Him. However, other members of the spiritual world who can see Him and who do believe that He exists are no better off than people here on earth who believe that He exists. Belief isn’t enough – it’s simply the starting point. The demons will not be spending eternity in God’s presence because they refuse to submit to God’s authority, so where belief is the start, submission is the end. Faith (belief) without works (submission) is death. The ironic thing about the demons is that they understand God’s power, which is why they shudder. However, that recognition of power still does not motivate them to alter their patterns of behavior. Believing in God is not the end of salvation – it’s the beginning. The Bible teaches
that true belief in what Christ did on the cross leads a person to a lifestyle of submission to God. If you believe, then the logical question is, are you submitting?
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