The law of belief for a believer is, “You don’t believe what you see, but you see what you believe.”
We have all been tricked by a magician who knows that “the hand is quicker than the eye” and so we realize that we cannot always believe what we see.
On the other hand, we need to learn how to see what we believe. Paul put it beautifully when he said, “For we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Since so many people only believe what they see, they are constantly being tricked by magicians and misled by the media and the world. All are experts in causing people to think that “what they see is what they get.”
Contrast this with God’s word. Our Lord “shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.”
How do we become proficient at seeing what we believe, even though “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen?” This is done through the eye of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We do not see, yet we believe.
Jesus pronounced a blessing upon those who would believe even though they had not seen. In speaking to Thomas who refused to believe until he saw, our Lord said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
This describes us. We have not seen, yet we believe. Through the eye of faith, we see what we believe. Therefore, we are associated with the faithful who Paul addressed in Rome and with Abraham. Of Abraham Paul says, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.”
Most people only want what they can see. They see a shiny new automobile and want one. They see a lovely home and desire to have it; they see the latest fashions and want to wear them.
On the other hand, they do not see the promises God made to the faithful, and so the kingdom of God is out of sight and out of mind. We are different. We realize that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
We want to be in the kingdom of God more than anything else in all the world. Like our Savior, who for “the joy set before him endured the cross and despised the shame,” we look beyond what we can see and long for the coming of our Lord who will bring with him that crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to us in that day.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One