If seeing is believing, then we would be in big trouble faith wise. None of us have ever seen God face to face. Our flesh wouldn't be able to handle it because God's beauty is so perfect that our imperfect beings would be overwhelmed to the point of dying. Thank God though that he shows us his miracles on a daily basis.
The miracles he does for everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, is shows us the sunrise, sunset, flowers blooming, protects us from the planets caving in on us, and the list goes on and on. An unbeliever won't see the miracles of dead men being raised, sick people being healed, and so on. When we invite him into our lives, we also invite his miracle working power into our lives as well. Unbelievers can't see God's miracle working power because he's not a part of their lives.
Having seen both sides, I don't know why people wouldn't want to have Jesus a part of their lives. His power is so amazing in every situation that when things look hopeless, a person is merely the decision to trust him away from seeing miracles happen in their lives. Yet, some are so closed down to Christ that they don't see the truth even if it is staring them directly in the face. Why? There are several reasons.
1. Without Christ, people don't know how to love.
Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?” Jesus answered and said unto them, “If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” He that doesn't love me doesn't keep my sayings, and the word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's which sent me.” (John 14:22-24)
God's love for us is so INTENSE that there isn't a thing he won't do for us. He would move heaven and earth to bless those who LOVE him. What we forget is that he has a longing for us just like we have a longing for him. When we don't fill that longing with him, he can't bless us because we are wired in such a way that every fabric of our being NEEDS HIM. If we pretend that we don't need God, we can't love him. Our love for God is shown by our willingness to keep his commands.
There will be times where we don't understand why God has us do certain things, but even though we don't understand, we'll do what he tells us to do because we know he has our best interest at heart. In the process of doing what God tells us to do, we will learn how to love people on a deeper level than we ever have before.
When a person lives like they don't need God, they surround themselves in bondage and seek their own way to get out. Jesus tells them, “This is the way to do it”, but those people think, “No that can't be it.” If a person doesn't truly love God, they won't keep his sayings.
There is a deep root as to why people don't think they need God. That is found in the fact that if we think we don't sin, we don't need a Savior.
2. No sin, no savior.
“If I (Jesus) had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this comes to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause.” (John 15:22-25)
Before Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life showing us a model of what God is like, there would have been NO WAY TO SEE OUR FALLEN STATE WITHOUT GOD. Therefore none of us would have a need for a savior and could do whatever we felt was right in our own eyes. Before you start thinking, “Doesn't sound bad to me”, let me explain that it is.
If we all did whatever was right in our own eyes, the rules wouldn't be the same. It would be complete chaos. If you decided that murder was wrong, but I decided that it was right, I could go and shoot you with no accountability whatsoever. So we would end up killing off the entire human race because of no right or wrong.
Because Jesus came and showed us how to live our lives, we have a measuring rod to show us that we all fall short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23) We therefore stand before a Holy God exposed and in need of his blood to cleanse us from our sins.
In a flat reading of the Bible, we'd say that Jesus said, “They hated me without a cause” with no feeling. We need to keep in mind that Jesus was human just like us, with no sin. Which meant that he experienced the same hurts we do. When a person despises us without even getting to know us, we are hurt. When people that we love despise us for whatever reason, we're hurt too. It hurts Jesus' heart when people don't know the blessings that he has for them, but they hate him. IT WILL HURT GOD DEEPLY TO WATCH HIS PEOPLE THAT HE CREATED GO TO HELL BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO REJECT JESUS. Because we all fall short, we all need the blood of Jesus Christ to cover our sins to be able to be in the presence of God. Our sins have to be cleansed before we can be in the presence of a Holy God. WE CAN'T GET TO HEAVEN WITHOUT IT.
3. We can't get out of this world if we only believe what we can see.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they aren't of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. (John 17:14-15)
We can't see beyond our natural bodies or our natural circumstances. If we only believe what we can see, then once we die, that's it. That leaves no vision for anything greater than ourselves. Without a life with Christ, we live, make money, and die. That doesn't sound exciting does it? Not to me either.
This leaves us with needing to take God at his word and trusting that living eternally with Christ is not only an option that we can take, but one that we should all want to take.
God has placed eternity in each one of our hearts. If this weren't so, we couldn't be happy since this world is overwhelmingly negative. The love of God is the only thing that can rescue people from the world's negativity. The more we love God, the less we're going to be affected by negative things.
I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from evil.
I remember the first time I really noticed this scripture was when my youth pastor and I were discussing it a few years back. He mentioned that God won't just take us out of situations that we're going through because if he did, it wouldn't build relationship between us and God. We'd just expect him to take us out of the situation every time. The Lord's prayer says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Deliver is just as Jesus says. THROUGH RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST, WE ALLOW HIM TO SHOW US THE WAY THROUGH THE STRUGGLES. This is where the next point is crucial to remember.
Unbelief signs vs. I believe, help my unbelief.
When a person doesn't believe that it's God giving them the signs to do certain things even if they know it's going to result in things turning out for their benefit, the result in asking God for a sign is “No sign will be given except for that of the prophet Jonah.” IF WE DON'T BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY, WE AREN'T GOING TO BELIEVE ANY OTHER MIRACLE THAT HE DOES FOR US.
When we're walking through the storms of life with the heart of believing what he says to be true, he'll give us signs to show we're on the right track because he knows our heart is believing in what he says to be true.
I'll close with an example that my dear friend Jeff used in his lesson on Wednesday at Ground Zero. It's hard to describe on paper, but I'll do the best I can.
Jeff blindfolded one of the students and had this student stand on a step and hold his hand and follow the instructions he gave. He represented God leading us. The blindfold was representing the fact that we don't know what's in front of us. Different people in the crowd were telling the student that what this student was getting ready to step into was messy and gross. This student instinctively started imagining the worst. Also, there was a bag of glass that was shaken up on the side. This student thought, “Oh great, if I step forward, I'm going to cut my foot open on glass.”
This student had to trust that God (represented by Jeff) wouldn't tell her to do something that was going to cause her harm. She ended up doing what she was told to do.
We find ourselves in those situations ALL THE TIME. We know what God tells us is true, but we're so afraid to step forward because we're imagining the worst case scenario. This is where we ask God for a sign saying, “I believe, help my unbelief.” There is unlimited blessings that come about in stepping out in faith. Risk brings reward. GOD'S REWARDS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD! God bless.
Kasey
