God: Believe in, Believe, or Follow Him?

For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Deuteronomy 30:16 NIV


Sometimes the Bible says "believe in".

Searching the NIV for the words "believe in" yields 27 results.  All of them have to do with believing in God.  Three are from the Old Testament.  The other 24 are from the New Testament, and refer specifically to Jesus.  For instance, 

Jn 6:28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jn 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Other times it says "believe".

Searching the NIV for the word "believe" yields 150 results.  Not all of them refer to God - some refer to believing (or not) other people.   Twenty of them are in the Old Testament.  The other 130 are in the New Testament.  

Jn 5:36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Still other times it says follow.

 Searching for the word follow gives even more results - 182 times.  Again, not all of them have to do with God.  The Old Testament has the word 123 times, leaving 59 in the New Testament,

Mk 1:16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 

So - which one is it?

Would you believe - All Of Them!

Yes - I really said "All of them".  
And I don't mean like pick and choose the one(s) you want.  
I really mean all - as in every one of them.

Let's look at a fig tree as an example.  Jesus talked about - and even used one as a teaching example.  We read about them in the Old Testament.  And they are used as an example is Revelation.  The following background information on fig trees is from the Word in Life Study Bible -

The fig tree is indigenous to the Middle East, growing well there in stony soil. It can produce three distinct crops of fruit in a year: autumn figs, which are the main fruit (Jer. 8:13); winter figs, which ripen in the early spring if they survive the winter winds (Rev. 6:13); and summer figs, which usually ripen in late summer and are the most tasty (Jer. 24:2).
Fig trees take years to cultivate properly (Prov. 27:18). They mature very slowly, which is why their destruction was viewed by the Israelites as a disaster (Jer. 5:17; Hab. 3:17).
     Word in life study Bible. (1996). (electronic ed., Je 24:2). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

So let's use an analogy here, and look at the fig tree as a representation of us.  It's a reasonable thing to do.  Jesus used The Parable of the Sower to show how we are like seeds.

Mt 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”


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