Pastoral Pings ~ The Faith Which Sees What Eyes Cannot

          Faith comes from hearing, not from seeing.[1] This is why those who are righteous by faith[2] walk through life by faith rather than sight.[3] Spiritual faith sees things that physical eyes have no means of apprehending. It is not that faith imagines things that are not there, just because physical eyes cannot see them. It is that faith sees things, and knows things, that are beyond the physical realm, requiring a form of sight that is beyond the physical eye.

          God says that “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”[4] This tells us that there is a “knowing” of “things not seen” that is just as real in the spiritual realm as knowing things that “are seen” in the physical realm. The reason that science cannot disprove God is that God is spirit,[5] and science is material. Our physical senses can perceive the material things God has made[6]; and our spiritual senses, awakened to life by faith,[7] can perceive the spiritual things that are beyond the material creation.

          Here is another description of how faith is required to understand material things in their spiritual context: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”[8] The very essence of all we consider material originates in what is unseen. The material declares to our physical senses that there is an immaterial that is responsible for all we see.

          At the same time, we are not left without a witness of such things, for “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”[9] And, “The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge!”[10] This means that the very heavens above us, and all the sky we see in its glory by day, and its glory by night, declare the glory of God. Every generation has seen the sky, and the heavens. Our present generation has explored the heavens telescopically more and better than any previous time. All that God has made declares the praises of him who made it.

          Since God is spirit, and yet reveals himself in the material world he created, we must take serious that, “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”[11] Once we know that God is spirit, and that he is invisible to the physical senses, we can understand why it is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is what apprehends that there is a spiritual reality that not only corresponds to physical reality, but is the source of the physical reality.

          Since the spiritual realm is the source of the physical realm, faith goes looking for what the physical eyes cannot see. The only way we could ever connect with God who is spirit is in the spiritual realm, and this spirit-realm connection with God can only happen by faith.

     For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.[12]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

[2] “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,” (Romans 4:5)

[3] “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)

[4] Hebrews 11:1

[5] “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

[6] Science continues to confirm in the physical realm what God has revealed from the spiritual realm.

[7] “⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2)

[8] Hebrews 11:3

[9] Psalm 19:1

[10] Psalm 50:6

[11] Hebrews 11:6

[12] Ephesians 2:8-10