Believing To See

Our lives are surrounded by television, movies and the internet in our modern world and we seek to see before we will believe. Unfortunately, what we see can also lead us to believe in the wrong things. We are bombarded by so many things in this world that we miss seeing important truths that comes only when we first believe.

In the gospel of John, Jesus expressed his frustration that the people will only believe when they see miraculous signs and wonders when a government official asked him to heal his dying son. In response, Jesus told him to go back home and that his son will live. The official believed Jesus and experienced the healing of his son.

The good news of Easter is that Jesus died on the cross but rose from the dead. Easter is the celebration of Christ’s victory over death. It is only when we believe in the resurrection of Christ that we can find hope when we face the trials of life and death. All of us will face “deaths of many kinds” but the good news is that through such deaths we can become new creations in Christ.

Christ has conquered death to set us free from the fear of death. We need not be afraid to die our “little deaths” and we can learn to befriend death. When we believe in the resurrection power of Christ our eyes will be open to the stars shining in the dark nights of our soul.

We can see that everything works for good to those who love God only when we believe that Christ is for us and in us and with us. Our responsibility is simply to live in the awareness that Christ is with us always. Unfortunately, our human nature gets in the way as the words of the song, I Thank You Lord For The Trials, tells us:

“But it goes against the way I am to put my human nature down

And let Your Spirit take control of all I do

For when those trials come my human nature shouts the things to do

And God’s soft prompting can be easily ignored.”

Easter reminds us that our old self has been crucified with Christ on the cross. So let us encourage one another to walk by the Spirit each day that we may delight in God’s will and be transformed into His new creations.