A belief is something you accept on faith.
… is something about which you have a strong conviction
… is something you consider to be true and honest
… is the mental acceptance of something or someone
A belief is also an acceptance of something good or bad, right or wrong. If you have a strong conviction that something is true… it becomes part of your belief system.
Your beliefs determine your behavior. Behavior is the things you do on a daily basis, the things you constantly react to. Your beliefs will also control your choices. Choices are decisions you make based on what is important to you. Your choices help make the things you believe in happen. Note that I said “help”. I know there are times when you make the right decisions for all the right reasons and the result is not what you planned or wished for. However, without making decisions, you will never be able to make the important things you believe in happen.
Here are three true stories that show how beliefs affected these teens’ behavior and choices.
WG was a beautiful girl at 17, with a very ethnic look. Her bone structure was beautiful and she photographed amazingly. However, she was quite small in terms of the modeling community and was repeatedly told by reputable agencies that she would never work much in the industry. She chose not to believe that and continue to persecute anyone who represented her. She turned to disreputable agencies and scammers who took advantage of her desire to make it in the print modeling world. She found herself in awkward and compromising situations because she believed something was wrong. She believed that she could do something that she couldn’t and that affected her choices and behavior.
CB had a beautiful singing voice. Although she wanted to be an actress, her forte was in singing and she used to sing to relax while she was preparing for acting auditions. She was told over and over again that she should seek out local music concerts that could use this talent while she was allowed to perform. She questioned her talent to the point that she wouldn’t believe anything was right. She followed that belief and did not pursue a music career at all and eventually even gave up acting.
LH was a natural when it came to creating art. He could make a canvas come to life almost effortlessly. At first he knew that he loved to create and believed that he really had talent in that area. He thing to believe the truth and earned a bachelor’s degree in art and continues to create art regularly. His choices and behavior were a response to his belief.
So what do you think? About being happy – About you – About God
If I told you that you are capable of doing something…
or that you were not able to do something…
and he BELIEVED me – how would that affect his choices/behavior?
Do you believe that God made you?
I believe that the Bible is alive and valid, not just a textbook full of history and rules. I also believe that life is meaningless. I believe that we are here on earth to enjoy God’s creation around us and to share how great God is and how great his love is for us.
God says this about himself in the book of John in the Bible. God also says that He has a plan/purpose for your life.
In the Psalms it says that God created you before you were born. Believe in God? So WHAT is your purpose? Your purpose is to glorify God every moment of every day. To glorify means to reveal or make more clear the glory of (God) through your actions.
Do you choose to believe this about your life? If so, how will this affect your behavior and choices?
Sometimes your choices have to be spontaneous based on the situation and perhaps a crisis. If you don’t know what you really believe or what’s important to you right now, you usually won’t make the best decision. He’ll take the easy way out, at least the one that seems easiest at the moment.
Your choices can ruin your life in seconds, and you have a life of seconds to live. If you live to be 75 years old, you will have lived 2.4 trillion seconds. Just one of those seconds can change your life forever.
THE GREATEST CHOICE YOU WILL MAKE IS TO BELIEVE IN JESUS. If you choose to believe what the Bible says about who Jesus is and that He came to save you from your sins, you will act on that belief in your behavior and choices each day.
There is no other belief that will affect your life as much as this belief. The Bible simply says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
If you really don’t know much about Jesus, I would challenge you to pick up the Bible (try the standard English version, it’s easy to understand) and read the book of John in the New Testament. The life that Jesus lived was a life based on who He was. His behavior and choices were always in response to who He was and what He believed.
If you have already made a decision to believe in Jesus, I would challenge you to study how that belief is reflected in your daily behavior and choices. As you study, if you find that your behavior and choices are not strongly based on your belief in Jesus, study more about Him and who He is and His desires for you to live an abundant life.
Remember that tomorrow is another day of seconds. How will you live and what will you believe so that those seconds add up to a life full of joy, peace and satisfaction?
