You may have been asked, "Do you believe in Jesus?" in a similar way as being asked if you believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or the stork.  But when someone asks if you believe in Jesus, they are asking a much deeper question than if you believe in something such as aliens.  The deeper meaning of that question is "Do you trust in Jesus as your personal Savior?"

        So what exactly does it mean to believe in Jesus?  First of all, you need to have a head knowledge of Jesus.  Who was He?  What did He do?  Why did He have to die?  Well, Jesus is the Son of God.  God sent His son from heaven to live here on earth among humans.  Why?  We humans are imperfect sinners.  In order for God to accept us as His children, we have to be forgiven for our sins and imperfections.  So God sent Jesus to earth to become the sacrifice for us.  Jesus was perfect and lived a perfect life, so this qualified Him to take our sins upon Himself and be our substitute.  Since we cannot save ourselves, Jesus' death on the cross did that for us.  He died so we would be forgiven for our sins and have the salvation God offers.

        That brings us to the next thing--faith.  All we have to do is accept what only Jesus could have done on the cross for us and decide to become a part of God's family.  This is where things move from a head knowledge to a heart knowledge.  We have to realize that we are sinners and nothing we can DO can EARN God's favor.  We have to believe the truth that Jesus died for us, paying for our sins, no matter how bad we really were.  This payment marks our debt as "Paid in Full".  Nothing else is needed since Jesus' death did it all!  Once we believe in Jesus and accept what is did for us, and put our trust and faith in Him, then we become a member of God's family.

        Then, the last thing we must do, once we believe in Jesus and trust in Him as our Savior, is show our faith and trust through our actions.  Jesus deserves to be first in our lives and be our highest priority.  We need to do what pleases Him, have a personal and loving relationship with Him, and tell others about Him and how He saved us. 

        THAT is what it means to "BELIEVE" in Jesus!!