Photo by Jaleel Akbash (unsplash.com)
I am convinced my dad knows everything
Being nearly 85, he’s certainly lived long enough to accumulate enough knowledge to make the claim. Plus, not only does he have an undergraduate degree, he has a Masters and a Doctorate. But I don’t think that’s what makes him so smart.
He’s just a sharp guy.
For example, we were all riding in the car one afternoon and it was one of those days that wasn’t really sunny but it wasn’t cloudy either…it was just kind of hazy. You know what I mean? So, I asked my dad, “what is haze?” just to see what he would say. Do you know what he said? He said it was dirt or smoke that gets in the air and makes the sky not look as clear.
Do you know what Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of haze is?
“Fine dust, smoke, or light vapor causing lack of transparency of the air.”
Huh.
He also said that if you pour salt on a drowned fly it will come back to life.
Guess what I did.
Guess what happened.
That sucker crawled right out of that salt pile, and after a few minutes, flew off our picnic table.
For reals.
Don’t believe me? Next time you’re at a picnic and a fly lands in your lemonade, just wait a few minutes. When you think he’s breathed his last, fish him out, grab the salt and bury him in it.
You’ll see.
Then you’ll believe.
Isn’t that just like us humans?
We have to see before we’ll believe.
That’s what Thomas demanded. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples, but Thomas wasn’t with them at the time. John 20:25 says, “So the other disciples told [Thomas], ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’” If you continue reading the chapter it says that later on Jesus appeared to the disciples again when Thomas was there, and He says to him “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas did, and cried, “My Lord and my God!”
Historians say that Thomas went on to spread the gospel as far as India where he died a martyr’s death. That was how he lived having seen the risen Lord.
Seeing is believing?
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Do you believe?
Do you believe in a risen Savior? A resurrected Christ? Easter is coming. Do you believe that Jesus is who He said He is and that He conquered death and the grave like he said he would?
Yes? Then how are you living? Are you living an alive kind of life? Like Jesus is alive in you?
Our faith is not about the “religious” things we do. It’s not about religious things at all. It’s about a relationship with a risen Savior!
We are not called to gather, we are called to go.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:19, 20.
How are you making Him known in the marketplace?
How are you making disciples?
Are you?
What are you waiting for?
Are you waiting to see something?
Are you waiting to see something before you do something? Before you go?
Before you live?
Seeing is not believing.
Believing is seeing.
So go.
