Seeing is Believing

[HKHaugan]

Seeing is Believing

You’ve heard the saying “Seeing is believing.” For disciples of Jesus “Believing is seeing.” Spiritual sight trumps physical sight. Actually both work through belief if the Creator is viewed as the source of physical sight. The actions of the body are directed either by one’s belief in self or God. What we perceive behind what is seen is based on how we define ourselves. If we are just human beings then we live by what our culture dictates us to be. If we see ourselves as images of God then a whole new way of thinking about everything is different.

‘Image’ thinking starts with being right, being pure and being complete, those three things. They are the goals that make our humanity real. The issue is not how perfect we are but how focused we are. That’s the approach that finalizes our moments and gives us a sense of a job well done. Being right is having a mind that centers on how something is best done. Being pure is having a heart that has the intention of helping others realize their imageness. Being complete is having the inner assurance that we have been and are being productive.

Being right is having a moral structure and a moral example that answers the questions of who we are, what we are and the way to reason in any situation.

Being pure is the quality of personal intention where the heart seeks only the best attitude that delivers the best results for the best in others.

Being complete is not so much what we sum up in regard to what we have done. Rather it is the sense of having made the most out of the moment we live in.

These are what we see in the Lord Jesus. They are what all the Apostles saw in Him. They are the invisible goals that make our visible lives salt and light. When Jesus said that He hadn’t come to do away with the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them, He elevated a new way to be right, pure and complete. When Jesus called the disciples what caused them to drop everything and follow Him? It certainly wasn’t a worldly education and intellect. Nor was it their ability to know His heart. And what resume did He present as to His past accomplishments? Matthew records Him saying simply, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Luke expands that event to show how Peter, after fishing all night and catching no fish, was told by Jesus to go into the deep water and cast his nets. That’s when Peter caught more fish than two boats could hold.

In that one event they saw in Jesus the total package of being right, being pure and being complete. He made every moment meaningful. It was looking forward to being what He was in every moment. Life was not about piling up a series of good behaviors, acts of generosity and legal obedience to justify one’s self. Life was not about how much respect and admiration we get when our life is summed up. Rather it was in every passing moment, every encounter with someone else, every sensing of God’s presence, the faith in Jesus that brought Him close and the resulting experience of what Jesus was doing in those moments. How could they not follow Him?