Have you ever wondered why God secretly buried the body of Moses? (Deuteronomy 34:5,6) Or why there is nothing in existence that Jesus made when He was a carpenter? Or why no one has ever found the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus was supposed to have used at the Last Supper? Or why there are no pieces of Jesus’ cross in existence? There are 2 great examples of why this is so.
The first example is found in Scripture. In Numbers 21 the Israelites complained about both God and Moses, the result being that God sent some venomous snakes into their camp. Many people died and when they repented, God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Whoever was bitten was immediately healed if they would just look at the metallic snake. Well, over 700 years later the Israelites were guilty of worshiping the snake so in 2 Kings 18 King Hezekiah ordered it broken into pieces.
The second example is from church history. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a very influential woman in the Catholic Church and during her lifetime she founded a religious order of nuns and established 18 convents across Spain. After her death, because she was so revered, her body was divided into pieces and distributed to her followers. (Sort of makes Halloween look pretty tame, doesn’t it?) Over a period of time her bones became very valuable. It is said that the Spanish leader Francisco Franco had acquired 4 of the fingers from her left hand and kept them by his bed. (Apparently the relics did nothing spiritually for Franco who was a pretty ruthless dictator!)
These 2 examples make the same point. People tend to worship objects they can see as opposed to a God they can’t see. I suppose that this is only natural. Seeing is believing. However, God promotes and rewards faith, which is believing without seeing. The fact is that if the Holy Grail was found or a piece of Jesus’ cross, it would be worshiped by millions of people. Think of all the greed, stealing and bloodshed that would have occurred down through the centuries by people and/or nations in an attempt to gain control of these relics.
To a large degree we have no tangible evidence of our faith. About the closest thing we have are some archeological treasures (cities, artifacts, tablets and cylinders) which corroborate the Bible's historical accuracy. But we don’t need relics. Nor do we want them. We have faith and that is enough. As we are told in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” and in v 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
If we want something tangible for our faith, something we can see, then I recommend a changed life. There is nothing that speaks more to the reality of what we believe than this!
Lord, thank you that in Your divine wisdom You chose not to complicate faith by giving us relics, relics which would end of being the object of our worship instead of You. Help me to continue to walk and live by faith, faith in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The first example is found in Scripture. In Numbers 21 the Israelites complained about both God and Moses, the result being that God sent some venomous snakes into their camp. Many people died and when they repented, God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Whoever was bitten was immediately healed if they would just look at the metallic snake. Well, over 700 years later the Israelites were guilty of worshiping the snake so in 2 Kings 18 King Hezekiah ordered it broken into pieces.
The second example is from church history. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a very influential woman in the Catholic Church and during her lifetime she founded a religious order of nuns and established 18 convents across Spain. After her death, because she was so revered, her body was divided into pieces and distributed to her followers. (Sort of makes Halloween look pretty tame, doesn’t it?) Over a period of time her bones became very valuable. It is said that the Spanish leader Francisco Franco had acquired 4 of the fingers from her left hand and kept them by his bed. (Apparently the relics did nothing spiritually for Franco who was a pretty ruthless dictator!)
These 2 examples make the same point. People tend to worship objects they can see as opposed to a God they can’t see. I suppose that this is only natural. Seeing is believing. However, God promotes and rewards faith, which is believing without seeing. The fact is that if the Holy Grail was found or a piece of Jesus’ cross, it would be worshiped by millions of people. Think of all the greed, stealing and bloodshed that would have occurred down through the centuries by people and/or nations in an attempt to gain control of these relics.
To a large degree we have no tangible evidence of our faith. About the closest thing we have are some archeological treasures (cities, artifacts, tablets and cylinders) which corroborate the Bible's historical accuracy. But we don’t need relics. Nor do we want them. We have faith and that is enough. As we are told in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” and in v 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
If we want something tangible for our faith, something we can see, then I recommend a changed life. There is nothing that speaks more to the reality of what we believe than this!
Lord, thank you that in Your divine wisdom You chose not to complicate faith by giving us relics, relics which would end of being the object of our worship instead of You. Help me to continue to walk and live by faith, faith in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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