When Seeing is Believing

Seeing Jesus is believing. Why do I say this? After all, not everyone who saw Jesus believed in Him. Obviously, I’m not talking about natural eyesight. I’m talking about something deeper, the vision of faith: faith that comes from hearing God’s Word and receiving it into our hearts in a way that shows us Jesus.

 

“He who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus told Philip in John 14:9. He wasn’t speaking here of God’s physical form, but of God’s character. Through Jesus we see God’s personality: what He is like, what His will is, how He acts, what He does, how He wants to relate to us, and what He desires to do in, for, and through us.

 

“And this is the confidence we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us: And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” (I John 5:14-15)

 

Have you ever had a friend you knew so well, you could almost predict his answer to any question you might ask him? If you know someone well enough, you may be able to predict their will in any given situation. Most likely, you don’t ask that person for anything you don’t believe they’re willing to give you. It works the same way with God. If you don’t believe He’ll answer your request, then why would you bother asking?

 

But if you know Him, then you know His will. And if you look at Jesus – through scripture study and though prayer – then you will get to know Him and understand His will. Knowing His will gives you faith to believe.

 

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” the leper told Jesus (Matthew 8:2).

 

Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” (verse 3)

 

By healing the man, Jesus showed him God’s will for him. By seeing Jesus do the miracle, he was able to see God’s will for himself. And the way he saw God’s will in this case was by asking.

 

“Lord, if you will, you can.”

 

Asking is a good way to see God’s will, because even when God’s will is clearly seen in scripture, it may be difficult to see exactly what it means for us in any particular situation. Seeing God’s will from afar is quite different from seeing it up close and personal. To see God’s will up close, we need to  do what it says in Hebrews 12:1. That involves:

 

SEEING (picturing in our minds)

 

the cloud of witnesses seeing and surrounding us,

 

lay aside every blinding weight (of doubt) that keeps us from seeing where we’re going,

 

running with patience the race set before us (which is only possible as we…)

 

KEEP OUR EYES on the goal,

 

LOOKING to Jesus (see verse 2), for He Himself IS

 

The author and finisher of our faith.

 

Nowhere in scripture are we encouraged to drum up faith in and of ourselves, but as the above scriptures instruct us, faith comes from God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

To see Him is to believe!

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