Seeing is not Believing

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day made one huge mistake: one that is still being made. See if you can spot it in this passage about Jesus’ crucifixion.

“In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others’, they said, ‘but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (Mark 15:31-32)

Did you see it? The mistake is found in the phrase, “Let this Christ… come down… that we may see and believe”.

The old phrase says that “seeing is believing” and that is exactly what the people of Christ’s day demanded. They wanted proof. They wanted to “see” before they “believed”. Unfortunately, God’s kingdom does not work that way. In fact, the Spiritual order is “believe and then see”.

In John 11, when Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead, he states, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (Verse 40). Believe and then see.

In another place Jesus tells us to, “Seek first his (God’s) kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). If you “believe”, you will “see” the blessings that will follow.

Now, it may sound like a technicality to say that the Biblical pattern is to “believe and then see” but, in fact, it is absolutely essential to keep that order. If we turn that around and demand to “see before we believe”, as the people in Christ’s time did, then we will never get started. There are some things in this world that can only be proven by trying them.

Waiting for absolute proof will not work. Faith always requires us to “believe” and then “see” what happens.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Why we do what we Do

When my girls were little, we forced them to read for at least 15 minutes every night. In fact, it was part of their homework for school. At the time, they did not necessarily like to read, because, like any new skill, it was difficult. If we had let them, they probably would have skipped their reading times altogether.

Strangely enough, now that they are older, I often find my girls curled up on their beds reading!

What happened there? How did reading go from something that we had to force them to do, to being something that they freely choose to do? Well, they found out how much fun reading is and how they can benefit from it. In short, they discovered the “joy of reading”.

There is a tremendous difference in reading because you are forced to and reading because you want to and that difference has to do with “motivation”. They have stopped “reading” and have become “readers”.

I believe that there is a spiritual correlation here. Sometimes people go to church, or do “good things” because they think that they “should”. In other words, the actions are done to keep other people, or even God, happy. That is ok for a little while, but as we mature, things should change. Spiritual maturity begins when we are no longer doing things because we are “forced to” but because we “want to”.

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. This is not a checklist of things to do. It is, however, a list of qualities that will naturally develop in us when we begin to discover how good it is to listen to God.

You see, we cannot force ourselves to be Spiritual people, but, with God’s help, we can grow into the blessings that the Spirit brings.

Why not give it a try? You may even find that you like it.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

This is the Day: Psalm 118

If you know anything from Psalm 118, if may be this verse, “This is the Day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (verse 24).

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes need a reminder to “rejoice”. It can become very easy to focus on the things that are wrong or stressful in my life and sometimes I forget to see the good things. I have ruined many good days simply because I have not had the right focus. The question then is, “How do I rejoice in this day?” The rest of Psalm 118 gives us some good ideas.

The first thing to notice is the phrase “Give thanks” (verse 1). Over the last few years, I have come to believe that thankfulness (or the lack thereof) is a “Spiritual indicator”. It shows that we know who is in charge and that we trust God to provide what we need.

Next, the Psalm reminds us “His (God’s) love endures forever”. We need to get that picture in our mind because that is what God is like. He loves us forever.

Verse 3 then says, “In my anguish I cried to the Lord and he answered”. Answered prayer is another reason to rejoice and be glad. We have help. We have hope. We have a direct connection to one who can change things for us. If that is the case, it is no wonder the Psalmist asks, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (ver 6).

When we focus our eyes on our help and our blessings instead of our problems, then we will have a good place to start rejoicing each day.

In the News

Here are two stories that made the news this week.

First: A motorist in Montreal came across a car that had gone into the ditch and rolled. Fearing that someone was seriously injured, the passerby stopped his car and got out to offer assistance. When he did that, four people emerged from the rolled vehicle, ran up to the highway and stole his car.

Second: On April 26, 2008, the Western Oregon women’s softball team was playing against Central Washington University. During the course of the game, Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky hit the first homerun of her college career. She was so excited that she missed touching first base, so her coach yelled for her to turn around.

As Sara turned to go back, she blew out her right knee. Crying, she tried to crawl back to the base. Her teammates came to help her, but the umpires informed them that if they touched her, she would be called out. They also told them that if they put in a pinch runner, the homerun would be disallowed and it would be counted as a single. That is when it happened.

Central Washington’s first baseman, Mallory Holtman, asked, “What if I help her?” The umpires said that was fine so Holtman and teammate Liz Wallace carried Tucholsky to each base and helped her touch each one of them with her foot, counting the homerun against their own team. Central Washington went on to lose the game and was knocked out of the playoffs.

Afterwards, when asked why she helped an opposing player, Holtman said, “She hit the homerun. It should count. It was only fair”.

I am a little surprised that those stories made the news, because the “moral component” is the only thing that makes them noteworthy. Interestingly, in spite of our “Politically correct – anything goes” society, people still recognize right and wrong when they see it.

Therefore, maybe the Bible is not so out of touch when it reminds us to, “Do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).