The first line in the Gospel reading is powerful: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God’s love for us is so great that he has found a way to bring us from death into life in himself.

And what is that way? Well, as the Gospel says, you must believe in the only Son of God.

But what is it to believe in the Son of God? Believing in a person is not the same as believing that a claim is true, is it? To believe in a person is to trust that person for some things.

So to believe in the only Son of God is to trust him.

Trust him for what?

Well, trust him to bring us from death into life. That is what the Gospel says, isn’t it? God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

So here is God’s funny system. You are saved from death by believing in the Son of God, and you believe in him if you are willing to believe that he saves you from death. Your contribution to your salvation is to believe that God will save you.

Of course, it is important not to get mixed up here. Your contribution is not the self-congratulatory belief that you are saved, or the even funnier but equally self-flattering belief that you have belief in the Son of God. No, your contribution just is really to believe in the Son of God.

Think of it this way. If I say that I believe you are my only way of getting out of this burning building alive and then I settle down to watch TV, what I say isn’t true, is it? What I say turns out to be true only if I am glued on you, totally focused on following you out of that building. If I really believe you can save me from the building burning around me, I will certainly cleave to you now.

How much more should we cleave to the Savior when we believe in him and trust him to bring us from death into life?