SEARCHLIGHT
Can you believe what you do not see? How do you see the unseen?
SCRIPTURE
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8,9 NIV
SPOTLIGHT
My grandson, Grady, was 4 years old when he began asking how God could be real when you cannot see Him. Do you have difficulty believing what you cannot see? Do you wonder if Jesus is really God since you cannot see Him like the disciples did? You don’t have to see something in order to believe something.
It was an unusual night. My audience, sitting before me, was composed of 10 bright, active children between the ages of 6 to 12. I asked them if they could see the chair in front of them. All said yes. Then I asked Kyle, one of the boys, if he believed the chair would hold him. He strongly agreed. I invited him to sit down if he really trusted that chair would hold him. Kyle sat and the chair did its job.
Next, I showed Kyle and the other children a straight black cane used to support people. They agreed that they trusted the cane would do its job. Kyle began leaning on it. Suddenly it gave way. The cane, which looked sturdy and strong, was made of bendable plastic.
We quickly trust things we can see. However, everything we see, cannot be trusted. The chair was trustworthy, but the cane was not.
We need to trust things we cannot see. Life would not go on if we didn’t. Many things that exist are not seen by the human eye. Every day we believe and trust in things we don’t see. Often, we forget or overlook the importance of the unseen. Right now, we are breathing air that is not seen by the eye. Right now, we are using the internet to allow us to read this article. Add to the list that we cannot see the airwaves which carry internet signals etc. yet we believe they exist every time we use our cell phones, TVs and computers. As we stand at the top of a tall building, we do not jump down but take the elevator because we believe in the law of gravity. Gravity is not seen but we know it exists. Likewise, we do not touch a fire which warms us or a stove which cooks our food because we believe that we will get burned. Other things we cannot see but trust that they exist are smell, taste, cold, and magnetism.
It should not be difficult to believe that God exists and loves us. In the above Scripture text, Peter complimented his audience for believing in Jesus Christ, the living God, without seeing Him. They knew Jesus is God because of their personal relationship with Him which had produced an “inexpressible and glorious joy” within them.
Just because Jesus Christ cannot be seen does not prove that God does not exist. Lack of sight should not lead to unbelief. Believing without seeing is not unreasonable. At least three times the Apostle John admits that no one has ever seen God. Read John 1:18; 6:46 and 1 John 4:12. The author of Hebrews said that only faith can let you see God. [Hebrews 11:1,6] Every created thing before our eyes has been created by the one who we don’t see, namely Jesus Christ, the living God.
To prove the reality and the power of the unseen, I asked Grady to put his hand in front of his face and blow on it. Observe that you cannot see the air, but you can feel it. That is just like God. We can sense His presence but not see Him. Then I showed him my harmonica. I pointed out it does not make any music tones by itself, so I asked him to blow into the harmonica. At that moment, we heard the beautiful music tones. The air which is not seen caused the harmonica to make beautiful music. That is just like asking Jesus Christ to live within us. He makes our lives complete and meaningful. We personally come to experience the living God.
When Grady and I were at the Science Center, I showed him a beautiful harp that did not have any strings. Then I asked him to pretend to play the harp. As he did, suddenly there were wonderful musical notes heard. The strings existed but they were unseen. The harp was strung with unseen laser beams instead of strings. The 16 laser beams were connected to a computer. When your hand broke a beam, the computer triggered a sound. What someone had to do was to touch the unseen to see and hear. He was making music with light.
Here is the lesson to learn. We cannot see Jesus Christ, the living God but we can experience His presence and power in our lives. We do not have to see Jesus to believe He is God. Just like air blown into a harmonica will make music and just like breaking the unseen laser light in the harp will make music, so Jesus will become real to anyone who asks Him to become real. Like Peter wrote, we can experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that will lead to joy now and a confidence of spending eternity with Him in the future.
SOMETHING TO DO
Ask other believers why they believe Jesus is real even though they do not see Him.
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Thank you, Jesus, for being Who You claimed to be while on earth. I believe in You even though I do not see You. Thank You for making Yourself real to me when I invited You to become my Savior. Make Yourself more real to me than ever before. AMEN