Faith That Sees ~

I am always grateful for how God uses my clients to challenge and refine my thinking.  Recently, a client admitted struggling with what she referred to as “blind faith.”   As I listened to the considerable challenges she faced as a new Christian, my heart went out to her!   But she deserved more than my sympathy, so I used her reference to “blind faith” as an opportunity to deepen her understanding of  Christian biblical faith, as a faith that sees.

I offered her some of the Scriptures my mind runs to when fear starts to grip my heart:  “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  (II Corinthians 4:18)  Faith that is invested in Christ Jesus, sees beyond the immediate to the things of eternal significance.  You just have to love it!

Yet, as helpful as the words Paul wrote to his friends in Corinth are, his letter to another church he had yet to meet blows our minds out of the cosmos.  Consider what Paul wrote to the church in Rome about faith and the hearts of men:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”   (Romans 1:18-20)

KA-POW!  We are suddenly faced with the proverbial “which came first, the chicken or the egg” quandary with reference to faith that sees!   The truth of the matter is that vision is not our problem;  the problem has to do with the arrogant human heart.  Paul confirms this in verse 21:

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Many years ago I read the testimony of a young man who had at one time been a persecutor of Christians in his community.  I do not recall the details of his conversion but his experience after he gave his heart to Jesus still tugs at my heart.  He said that the world around him literally became more interesting and colorful.   Suddenly, he saw beauty in fields he had walked by his whole life and had never seen previously.  The sky was bluer, the flavors of food became more enjoyable and the people around him became dearer to him.  It was as if he was seeing what he had grown up with for the very first time! 

Isn’t that what faith that sees is really about?  In Revelation 21 the Apostle John was finishing up his report of the vision given him about the events to come in the last days before Christ’s promised return.  In verse 5, John wrote, “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” in reference to the “new heaven and earth” to come.  I find it amazing that as we look forward to that coming day, we can be thankful for the beauty we see with faith that sees His goodness even now!

All to His Glory!