Seeing Is Believing?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+12:37&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16:1&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23:8&version=NIV1984

Periodically I have discussions with people who don’t know the Lord.  It’s always interesting to hear the comments of those who are on the outside, looking in.  After being a Christian for a while you forget what it was like not to be one.

One of the difficulties that some people have either expressed to me, or inferred, is having to take things ‘by faith’.  If they are going to put their faith in Jesus then they want proof.  They want a sign.  By this they are saying that they want to see a miracle.  That ‘miracle’ probably differs depending upon the person.  One person might want to see fire come down from the sky.  Another person might want to see someone walk on water.  Another person might want to see a blind person receive their sight.  Or someone with cancer cured without going through treatment.

I understand where they are coming from.  After all, as Christians, we believe in a God that none of us has actually ever seen.  Or ever heard speak.  Yes, we have the testimony of nature.  And the truth found in God’s Word.  But we have to admit that it’s not quite the same as having proof.  For many people the old adage applies, ‘Seeing is believing’.  Now while I sympathize with people who want spiritual realities validated, I also know that seeing a miracle doesn’t always lead to faith.  In fact, I would dare say that miracles seldom lead to faith.  What proof do I have of that?  The Israelites.

In the months before they were freed from Egypt, the land was rocked by 10 plagues.  Devastating plagues.  Plagues that brought Egypt to its knees.  Water turned into blood.  Locusts.  Flies.  Lice.  Gigantic hailstones.  The death of the firstborn.  And the amazing thing about all these plagues is that they only affected the Egyptians.  Not the Israelites.  Then the Israelites were freed, only to come to a dead end at the Red Sea.  With Pharaoh and his army in hot pursuit they cried out to God.  And God responded by opening a way, on dry ground, through the middle of the Red Sea.  Then after they were safely across, God allowed the waters to return to their place, drowning the Egyptian army.

Then, as they journeyed through the wilderness, God gave them manna from heaven.  A bread-like substance that appeared on the ground 6 days a week.  Then there was water that came from a rock.  And a large flock of quails that flew close enough to the ground so that the Israelites could knock them out of the air, cook, and eat them.  Then there was the spectacular appearance of God on the top of Mt Sinai.  Thunder.  Lighting.  Smoke.  The ground shaking.  The Israelites saw miracle after miracle after miracle.  Yet it didn’t translate to faith.  Instead they appeared to be totally unfazed by them.  Never being able to trust God to take care of them.  Never being inspired to serve this awesome, miracle-working God.  So God allowed them to die in the dessert.  That entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who saw all those miracles.  Miracles which, as far as faith is concerned, went to waste.

So from this example, and many others, I would have to state again that miracles seldom lead to faith.  Oh sure, there are always a few people who see or experience a miracle and it leads to their salvation.  But most people either get used to seeing the miraculous or they seek to explain it away.  In the end, seeing isn’t really believing after all.

So in our attempts to help people believe, let’s help them understand that faith is faith.  Not blind faith.  But intelligent faith.  In other words, faith in the evidence that God has already provided us of His existence.  Nature.  His Word.  All people need to do is to believe.  And when they do, God will do a miracle in their life.  A miracle of transforming them into the image of His Son.

Lord, I thank you that in Your divine wisdom You haven’t based belief in You on miracles.  It’s not that haven’t performed any, because You have.  And you are still performing them today.  It’s just that they aren’t the primary means of believing in You.  Faith is.  Thank you for the faith that You have inspired in me.  May the way that I live inspire others to put their faith in You as well.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.