Read time:
Believing and Seeing
A family favorite Christmas movie in our house is The Polar Express – an underrated classic with a memorable soundtrack filled with Tom Hanks voice acting, which is always worth it.
The story follows a boy who stands skeptical of Santa Clause for two seeming reasons: 1) he is finding the entire premise more unreasonable to believe as he is growing up, 2) To him, “seeing is believing,” and he hasn’t seen. Nevertheless, after being woken up by a magic train in the middle of the night, he jumps aboard to the North Pole to see where it leads. Throughout the journey, he expresses “he wants to believe,” but just can’t flip that switch. After making it to the North Pole, seeing elves, and witnessing some magical events, he and a group of friends wander the city, get lost and try to find their way back by the sound of Christmas bells – a delightful sound, ringing the essence of the spirit of Christmas. It is confusing to the boy because he doesn’t hear anything. They make it back and they bring out the sleigh and Santa himself, though the boy can’t see him in the crowd. Everyone surrounding him is full of joy at the sound of the Christmas bells on the sleigh and the boy grows crushed as he can’t hear anything or see anything in the crowd. A Christmas bell leaps off the sleigh and rolls right next to the boy who picks it up and rings it next to his ear to hear nothing but a faint, “doubter, doubter, doubter.” He’s had enough and chooses to believe, saying “I believe,” over and over until the switch flips within him and the bell rings. The entire North Pole goes quiet as Santa appears next to him, amazed at the choice in this young boy. Santa gifts him that Christmas bell to keep and the ending concludes with a beautiful line,
“At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.”
I’ve always been moved by this story, and lately, the parallel in the Kingdom has grown so evident it can’t be ignored – our choice to believe unlocks the ability to see and experience what we are waiting for. Throughout the story, the boy was mocked by a ghost who called his doubt out, and it was a second time reiterated by a friend:
Seeing is believing. But sometimes the most real things around us are the things we can’t see.
Despite what the voice within us tells us, we are waiting on an experience that compels us to believe. We so often wait for something to change us, but truly, we lead ourselves by choosing what we are going to believe. The boy was on a magic train, witnessed ghosts, arrived at the North Pole, saw elves, was told by others about the sound, yet he found himself stuck and unable to believe while he was waiting to see it first. It was only after he chose for himself, that everything was made accessible to him. We are surrounded by the evidence of the truth, and everything that we want to see is all around us, and it is our belief that unlocks our ability to see it and walk in it.
Jesus admonished Thomas when He rose again:
So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” …
John 20:25, 27-29
Then He said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and see My hands; and take your hand and put it into My side; and do not continue in disbelief, but be a believer.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
We often wait to be changed by an experience, waiting on God to bring an experience that will certainly be so foundationally revealing that will compel us into believing (changing). Our God is one of tender mercies and everlasting love, and as such, may very well reach out His hand out of compassion. And it may very well be a necessary part of our journey. But it is not guaranteed, encouraged, or necessary in order to believe what we need to believe, right now, and do what we need to do, right now. Our God is a God that looks for faith. Why? Because that is our part. Being compelled and convinced into the truth strips away our agency, our buy-in, our choice to trust. It is the one thing that we have, and is within our power to grant. And we grant to whom we choose.
It is also worth calling out, and this is said in lovingkindness, those that know they are waiting to experience something before they believe what they already are aware is true, ought to expect rebuke rather than encouragement. Jesus expressed frustration with His disciples when they proved faithless amidst His teaching and example (Matthew 17:17).
One doesn’t know what they don’t know, and nor are they expected to. But we live in an era of great wealth of knowledge, more than any that has been known to mankind, and we are aware of a great wealth of truth that we choose to not believe – because we wait for something to compel us.
The difference between knowing and believing? Believing transforms our being and ultimately reflects in how we act. It starts in our heart in yielding to one truth over another, which then leads our spirit and then informs worldview, mindset, priorities, and then finally in the fruit of our action and reinforced by feeling. It’s a process and journey, sometimes longer than others but starts with what we yield to first.
What to believe?
The key here is that we waste time waiting (and breath, praying) for what has already been done, waiting to become who we already are.
I hope this is received in the spirit in which it is given – I am a great example of one who has lived ignorantly to what I didn’t believe and that I didn’t believe. It was through many periods, and ultimately me getting fed up with my excuses, that revealed how everything that I’ve always looked for was always right in front of me, within reach. My limited access was only due to my lack of belief.
Here are three transformational and foundational beliefs, taking God at His word and walking forward in the truth of our identity on this side of heaven:
I am a loved son of God, in whom He is well pleased. (Matthew 3:17, Ephesians 1:5)
This speaks to His attitude towards us. If we believed this, then we would rest in all things, securely seated in the heart of our loving Father.
Too many times have I cried out for Him to make me feel like I was special to Him, when it’s all He’s ever called me. The greatest privilege we receive from our inheritance in Christ, is the position of receiving the same love with which the Father loved Jesus. As God proclaimed His love for Jesus as He ripped open the heavens and declared for all to hear (Mark 1:10-11), so He loves us. We were sons of disobedience, redeemed as sons that receive His favor and delight from the heart of God, Himself.
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father (John 10:14-15)
In 1 John 4:9, “We love, because He first loved us.” We can’t give what we don’t have, so God is the initiator to love us, unconditionally and relentlessly. It is when we abide in His love (John 15) that we bear forth the fruit of His love, which is the overflow of love within us that floods the earth with the outpouring of His love. The evidence of His love is all around. Insurmountable evidence. Unlocked, when we believe it to be true.
I stand before God, blameless and without accusation, forgiven and made holy. (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:1, 8:33).
This speaks to our standing before Him. If we believed this, then we would come before Him, boldly and often, knowing we are well received in the court of the Almighty.
Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need. (Hebrews 4:16)
During Jesus’ final evening with the disciples, He emphasized multiple times that whatever we ask for, we will receive (John 14-16). That when we abide in Him, we make our request known and our Father eagerly hears our request. With as many times as He mentioned it, Jesus was nearly begging His disciples to ask, because it is by our faith and request that the Father releases His grace and power upon the land, revealing heaven on earth.
A main hindrance and resistance, is the feeling of being disqualified, intimidated and without standing to come before the Lord God, Almighty, with any request, much less a request of significance. Letting the accusation of sin (via insecurity or pride) drive us a part from Him. Yet, it is our duty to take on the righteousness of Christ and stand before our Father, the Almighty God, with boldness and confidence and humility pouring our hearts out before Him for others and ourselves.
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and am seated with Christ in this present time to reign with Him over this present age (Ephesians 1:3, 1:20-23, 2:6)
This speaks to our orientation towards others and environments. If we believed this, then we would wait for nothing since we already have all that we need. Granted, waiting for the leading of Holy Spirit and not assuming to know the will of God, but otherwise relying on no excuse to bring the change we wish to see.
We were made, crafted intentionally, to bring forth change, redemption, and transformation in every environment that we are part of. We are enabled by the power of Holy Spirit within us and upon us, empowered by the hand of the Father in being raised and seated with Christ, and commissioned by the model of Jesus to do the will of the Father as He did, doing greater things than He in revealing the heart of the Father and heaven on earth.
How do we believe?
It is not uncommon to confused belief with feeling.
A belief is what you choose to accept as true. As real – as part of reality.
Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
A feeling is the fruit of your own garden, a result of what you believe to be true from the interpretation of events. Feelings follow beliefs.
Three components to lead yourself in what you choose to believe:
- Yield (Submission & Exclusion)
- We are coming under the covering of the belief when we choose it for us. We are submitting ourselves to it as part of reality, letting it become a mass of gravity where we orbit our being.
- When we choose to believe, we are narrowing the field of beliefs, for it is being chosen over something else. Consider what is not true, when we believe we are loved, blameless, and empowered.
- Meditation (Thoughts & Words)
- Proverbs is littered with pleadings to bind the truth around one’s neck, as an ornament to wear. This was a cultural reference, where the Israelites literally wore scrolls in a box around their forehead. To treasure the truth and its wisdom.
- Christian meditation is from when God told Joshua to not let the commandments depart from his mouth but mediate day and night. Psalms makes constant reference to night and day obsession. Our words create belief, as much as they reflect what we believe. To utter truth to ourselves over and over, to let our mind and heart dwell on truth, brings the depth of how real that truth is as it sinks in to us.
- Ownership (Prioritization & Commitment)
- It is important to be honest with ourselves for why we do what we do. All action is based on a truth believed, in either what is good or who we are. What are we after? Is that what we say we are after? Does there need to be an alignment of priorities?
- This is not to add work and tasks to our plate, but to focus our efforts on what matters. Worth noting, a result of believing what is true comes in the freedom, peace, and power within our spirit. We take our rest from our works, as we enter God’s rest, just as He did (Hebrews 4). And we end up doing more with less.
- This is a matter of letting the truth become a part of our life as matter of focus and value.
The Call To More 