There are many conspiracy stories around at the moment, and many people believe them yet have no evidence to back up that belief. Others would say that seeing is believing, and unless there is indisputable evidence they won’t take a risk. Yet, what we believe can determine the path we choose and the way we live our lives.
There are many conspiracy stories around at the moment, and many people believe them yet have no evidence to back up that belief. Others would say that seeing is believing, and unless there is indisputable evidence they won’t take a risk. Yet what we believe can determine the path we choose and the way we live our lives.
I don’t think it’s that difficult to believe in something we can’t see. We believe that the chair we’re sitting on wont fall apart when we sit on it. Why? Well, we know a thing or two about chairs don’t we. We’ve seen them before, and got some experience of how they work, and we’ve seen others sitting on them and not fall off. We’ve tried some out for ourselves and we trust the design of the chair won’t let us down.
Someone might have told you that there’s a brilliant film out and you need to see it. They may rattle on about how good it is, and about a special effect that blew them away, or describe a particularly poignant moment when the hero had to take courage and head off into the unknown. Maybe it even changed the way they looked at some aspect of life. But you haven’t seen it yet and unless you see it for yourself you’ll never fully believe what they’re telling you and it will be difficult to share their enthusiasm.
In many respects, faith is about believing in things we haven’t yet seen, and the apostle Paul wrote a couple of letters to the fledgling believers in Corinth. The letters are found in the New Testament and he says this:
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4 v 8,9, and 18 (New Living Translation)
As stories emerge about how people are coping with the current pandemic, many report that they are struggling to keep going. It’s all gone on way longer than expected and the novelty of working from home has worn off. Those with children find it difficult to home-school and also fulfill their own job requirements. Some are enduring financial hardship. Most of us are desperate to see family and friends, have a meal out or a break of some sort.
‘Pressed on every side by troubles’. Is that how we feel today? Well if it is, we’re not on our own. When it says in those verses ‘We don’t look at the troubles we can see now, rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen’, it’s talking about having faith, faith which will keep us going; faith that things will get better; faith that we can get up again after being knocked down; faith which helps us get beyond the current struggle and believe that it won’t always be like it is right now. There is an unseen story unfolding but we need the eyes of faith to see it and believe it.
Image Credit: Lubov’ Birina
