Believing Isn't the Invitation. Trusting Is.

It's hard to let go of something you once believed with your whole being. Some people never do. They stay in one place their entire lives, because the truth can be too much to reorient yourself around.

What we believe is powerful. I talked about that in my last "I'm Just Saying." Usually it comes from a good place. Someone we loved taught us a way, and that way became part of who we are.

But here's something I think we need to do: disconnect what we believe from who we are.

You might be thinking, but Joe, belief is all I've got.

I'd say no. What you've got is faith.

Faith is about trust. And when you trust someone, you risk going somewhere scary, somewhere different. Belief is about opinion, a point of view. Those change. They change all the time, as new information comes in or life hands you a new reality.

Faith is simpler than that. It's just trusting that although my belief is changing, the one I've put my faith in doesn't.

He (and yeah, I'm talking about Jesus) leads us into a new way of existing, a new way of experiencing, a new way of loving. Maybe that's why the earliest followers of Jesus weren't called "the believers." They were called the Way.

Because believing was never the invitation. Trusting was.

So learn. Grow. Hold onto some things. Let others go. Let your belief mature, flex, change shape.

And trust Jesus through all of it.

I'm just saying.