Seeing is believing but believing isn't seeing

There's a lot of things in life that I won't believe until I see it happen, and even if I see it, sometimes that isn't enough! I'm a bit of a Doctor Who fan, so if you're not bare with me. A couple of seasons ago we saw the Doctor shot dead in the first episode of the season by a mystery astronaut next to a lake somewhere in America. We then proceeded to see the events leading up to that death with everyone apart from the doctor knowing it was coming (that's time travel for you, dangerous!!). Anyway, for the whole season, right up until the final moments of the last episode we were told the doctor is dead, the doctor is dead, but something in me didn't believe it. I couldn't believe the doctor could be dead.

Of course he wasn't, but the point I am making is that I'm a natural skeptic, I find it really difficult believing things unless I see them or experience them myself, and I think part of that comes down to trust.

We've all been let down, some more than others, and that leads us to lose faith in people, and to stop trusting anything that isn't straight in front of us, and even then we may not be convinced!

In the book of John we are given 7 signs of Jesus throughout the book, all pointing to who Jesus was and the purpose of his ministry. The first one I talked about in my last post here, and the second is found in John 4 and addresses this issue of trust and faith in things we can't see.

"So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee." (John 4:46-54 ESV)

Here we see not only an incredible healing, but an incredible act of faith. This official, probably a roman guard or something, asks Jesus to come and heal his son in a nearby town. Jesus essentially says, "no, why do you need to see me do it, it's done, go home". OK, maybe not that bluntly, but I like to be dramatic! Anyway, the official's son was healed and because of that, the whole of his household believed, that's pretty good work for a healing Jesus wasn't even present at!

The official decided to choose to trust, and because he did, because he believed even though he couldn't see, Jesus healed his son. I know in my life, there are situations where I ask God to do something and can't see any evidence that he's doing it. Whether that's when praying for somebody to get healed, or praying that I'll get that job, choosing to trust is when, in the midst of our doubt we choose to place our faith in something greater.

It's interesting to note that the official asks Jesus to come with him and heal his son, but Jesus doesn't. Jesus chose to work from a distance. Just because you ask God to do something doesn't mean he'll do it in the way you're used to or expect him too, God is not bound by our preconceptions.

It's also important to point out that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayer at all in the way we expected. Sometimes people aren't healed, sometimes we won't get that job. That doesn't mean we shouldn't pray, and doesn't mean we shouldn't choose to trust, it means that we live in a broken world, but God is working to bring his kingdom through and in us.

Choosing to trust is about letting God bring his kingdom into that situation. Whether it's a healing or a job, we can be rest assured that choosing to trust even when we can't see what's happening WILL lead to change. Romans 8 reminds us that God has our best interests at heart and will always work for our good, however sometimes that's not in the ways we expect it.

Whatever our situation, the exciting thing about this passage is that if we choose to trust, God can bring his kingdom into any situation. Small or big, visible or invisible, we can know that our prayers will make a difference because we know that, seeing is believing, but believing is not always seeing. However when we choose to trust, we will see change in our situations because God is for us and working all things for our good!

Come As You Are

I’m quite a self conscious person, I always feel like I’m not good enough for the thing I’m doing, the people I’m with, or the environment I’m in. I’m constantly trying to change who I am so that I’ll fit in better, or be accepted by people.

Through social media we’re able to portray ourselves as these perfect individuals, post the bits of our lives that we think will help us be accepted more and untag the bits that embarrass us. We’re constantly living an edited, superficial life, trying our best to make sure that people don’t see us for who we truly are, for fear of them rejecting us.

And sometimes, we do it with God.

We think, in order that God can accept us, let alone use us, we need to be something other than ourselves. We think God only accepts perfect people, that God can only use people who have it all together, people who don’t make mistakes, swear or watch Eastenders. We think that the amount God loves us and the extent he can use us matters on what we have to offer him. But that’s totally missing the point…

In the book of John, Jesus is at a wedding party, and they run out of wine. I’m sure we’ve all heard the story, but here it is anyway:

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. (John 2:1-12, ESV)

So they've run out of wine, and Jesus' mum comes and asks Jesus to do something about it. What does Jesus do? He asks the servants to run him a bath, and then take some of that bath water and give it to the master of feasts. This bath water has suddenly transformed into the best wine of the party.

Somehow what was water becomes wine.

Like I said, often we feel like we need to be something special before God will accept us or use us. We think that we need to become some kind of super human before we can ever be good enough to be used by God.

But all he wants is bath water, because he can do the rest.

All he wants is for us to be ourselves, without putting on a front, without untagging the messy bits, just out plain imperfect selves, because it's not about us it's about him. 2 Corinthians 4:7 tells us that we are just simple, cracked jars of clay, which Jesus puts his treasure in!

Jesus is calling us to come as we are, warts and all and let him use us and change us into what we need to be.

Let's stop trying to live edited, superficial lives that project an image of who we think we should be. And let's let Jesus into our broken, messy lives and let him make something beautiful.