Belief Isn't Enough

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved."
Most of the people who I know believe in God (or believe there is a God) and most of them probably claim that they believe in Jesus. This has recently perplexed me. Have you heard this one "I'm a Christian I believe in Jesus"? This coming out of the mouth of people who bear "zero" fruit. Their lives don't show a bit of Jesus's love and they are living the same life that they always have (self serving in nature). There has been no change and they couldn't tell you any testimony of what Jesus has done in their lives. I have often thought "how can these people be going to the same heaven that I am". Sure that is a sinful judgmental thought, one that I repent of however it is a real thought that needs to be addressed in my life. I felt the need to exhaust this issue a little bit to the degree to which I could put it on the shelf and out of my way. In final, I needed an answer.
James 2:26 "... faith without works is dead also."
If you go downtown you will find drunks on the street who believe in Jesus, you will find drug-dealers who believe, even Satan and his demons believe in Jesus. With this being said I feel that the word belief has a stronger meaning, one that demands a deeper dig than the one we currently are involved in. Delight in the Lord (Psalm 37:4), dive in deeper, press in to get closer to Him. Make every ounce of your being believe, study the scriptures, or even easier spend time in conversation (fellowship) thus seeking out the Lord. Paul counted everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus (Phil 3:8). He actually knew Him, he felt His prescence in his life, wow, how amazing that experience must have been? Why can't that be us? Men; belief isn't enough there is more to it than that. Our culture has dumbed down the term belief and it has been relegated to a "sure that sounds right mentality". We can't be fooled by this and think that praying for salvation is enough and then we wait for the Rapture. Bump that, we need to hit the streets, proclaim Him in the clubhouse, never shy away from admitting that you are a Christian. When we get involved in conversations about laying down chicks, getting hammered, popping pills (illegal drug use), and bouncing curse words off eachothers chests we are denying that we know Him. Ya, I said it, we are all guilty. Just the other day I laughed along with the crowd when a guy was blantantly dropping G.D.'s and J.C.'s to be funny, how upset must God have been? Shameful on my behalf, I'm a hypocrit and I'm tired of falling off and backsliding. Belief isn't enough, let's dig deeper, read, fellowship, dig through the archives on this blog, and get into prayer more (bless your food before you eat it, bless a friends meal too- challenge!).

Lord; forgive us for denying that we know you too often, cleanse us of our sinful past, we praise you for your grace and mercy, strengthen us to do work, to battle, and to be courageous to stand alone if the situation predicts. We love You and worship You for You alone are worthy. Amen.