Believing in the Unseen

 

    This time of year makes me think of all the entities we convince kids to believe in, then later tell them they don't exist. How that must confuse kids and give them a lack of trust in adults. We tell them about the Easter bunny bringing baskets of goodies, Santa Claus filling stockings with presents, and the Tooth fairy paying us for our lost teeth. But, what about children living in poverty? Do they hear these stories and feel hopeful and then disappointed when their parents can't fulfill these fantasies? 

    How do we get children to then believe in an unseen God with faith, when we've told them to believe in other seen and unseen beings who really do not exist? Hebrews 11:1-3 explains faith as this, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." 

    As a teacher, my curriculum often included Greek mythology and other fables and stories from various cultures about who and how the world was formed. Yet, the Bible was never consulted about the origins of man or earth. I was also to teach Darwin's Theory of Evolution as if it were more than a theory, but a reality. In Jeremiah 33:2-3, the LORD speaks to the prophet and tells him, "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell your great and unsearchable things you do not know.'"

    The book of Hebrews in the Bible offers many who walked by faith. Noah is one most people have heard of, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith" (Hebrews 11:7). Imagine the pushback by people of Noah's day, who were carousing and living the "good life," geering at him and telling him what a fool he was for spending so much time, money, and energy on a silly ark. He had to have great faith to complete such a project, when he had no idea about what a great flood would even entail. 

    Believing in God does take faith, but it also takes discipline. We can't simply "go with the flow" each day and not spend time in the Word of God and think our faith will grow and flourish. Like a garden, when you plants seeds, you have faith they will grow into tasty produce, but you know you can't just walk away and hope for the best. You understand that a garden takes tending, watering, fertilizing, and keeping the pests from destroying the crops. You have faith in the seeds, but you do the work to see the fulfillment of your faith. 

    If we want a faith that produces a bounty for the Lord, we must tend to it, believing in the unseen means we trust the outcome to God, but we make the effort to show up, prepared for the task, then stand firm, knowing God is who He says He is, not a fable, or character in a movie, but the One True God who created you and me as well as the heavens and the earth.

James 2:14-15 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?