A Different Kind of Vision
Have you ever heard the expression, “Seeing is believing?” In some cases, that’s true. For example, maybe you have a friend who says to you, “I can juggle seven tennis balls for a minute.” If you’re like me, you say, “Prove it.” If they manage to juggle seven tennis balls for a minute, then you have to admit, “Yep, it’s true—I saw it with my own eyes.” In that case, seeing is believing.
However, in the spiritual realm, things work a little differently. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 it says, “For we live by faith and not by sight.” Why would the Apostle Paul write that? What’s the logic behind such a statement?
Let me give you an example. I’ve been pastoring in Pacific Beach since 1997. Every year, without fail, the brokenhearted parent of a young adult comes up to me and says, “Can you please pray for my son or daughter? They are far from God.” Mom or Dad are doing their best to believe that God will bring their adult child back to faith. However, what they are seeing in the lives of their grown kids is wrecking their faith.
This is also true of people in our lives whom we’ve been praying for but see no evidence that God is at work. Sometimes it seems like the more we pray for people and go out of our way to influence them toward faith, the worse things get.
My wife Karen and I raised five kids. There have been times when some of them were not tracking with God. In some cases, it was really hard to watch. That’s when you need a different kind of vision. Instead of watching cringe-worthy shenanigans play out in front of us and assault our faith, we need to look at the situation with the eyes of faith.
The eyes of faith say, “I will not allow what I see to undermine my faith. I will continue to trust God for my kids, my spouse, or whoever I’m praying for.” Warning—it might take a while.
Currently, I’m reading through the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. He loved his fellow Israelites, but they were far from God. Jeremiah preached to them, warned them, rebuked them, prayed for them, and wept over them. He had no illusions that this would be a quick fix. On the contrary, he knew he was in it for the long haul.
Jeremiah saw things that would wreck most people’s faith. Not only did Israel ignore him, they pretty much did the opposite of what God instructed them to do. Does that not sound like a rebellious teenager or young adult?
In time, Jeremiah’s predictions came true. Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Israelites were exiled to Babylon. Over a span of seventy years—as Jeremiah had predicted—the Israelites repented and were eventually allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.
Jeremiah never got to see all his prophecies fulfilled, but by faith he believed it would happen—and it did. To acquire faith-vision, you don’t have to trick your eyes. You simply need to believe in your heart that despite what you see, God is faithful, and in time your prayers will be answered.
Stay close to Jesus,
Steve