Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” John 20:29 NLT
Saturday, while walking along the greenway trail behind our house, I stopped to chat with a couple who own the breed of dog I would choose, were I ever to be a dog owner. (We are cat lovers!) This husband and wife exercise their pair of miniature Australian sheepdogs every day, throwing frisbees wide and far for them to chase.
To control one of her dogs, the ‘mom’ carries a whistle that only dogs and other animals can pick up. It emits a soundwave at a frequency that humans can’t detect. Her disobedient dog doesn’t like it and immediately stops chasing the squirrel or other critter that tempt him to bound away.
I have to take this woman’s word that the whistle really produces a sound. I can’t hear it, but apparently it is reality. Just like I can’t see other phenomena that truly exist. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t real. I searched for another example to share with you.
Apparently, photographers have found a way to capture the fluorescent radiance of flowers using a technique called UVIVF (ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence) photography. The naked eye can’t catch this intrinsic quality, but the photos I saw on line showed a beautiful glow around blossom.
Logically, if we take as a given the things in nature that we can’t detect with our human senses, then would it not follow that a God who is invisible to us could also exist? Especially, since there are eye-witness accounts?
I, as a believer, trust God and accept the scriptures as true. Yet, I still functionally act as an unbeliever in one major way. Even though Jesus told his disciples that he would be with them always, I go about the majority of my day not talking to Jesus as though he were present. Which he is.
I’m like many of the clients I meet at our local choose life pregnancy center. A fair number identify themselves Christians. But they don’t accept that Jesus IS alive and present. Since they don’t feel him, or see him, it’s as though he isn’t here. And that makes it easy to ignore him.
I don’t want ever to ignore Jesus. So, I make a point of talking out loud to him during my quiet time. I sit at the dining room table and address the Lord sitting across from me. I chat with him, thanking him, praising him and committing my cares and those of others to him for the day. I also ask his opinion about things that are bothering me.
But sometimes that is the only time of day, I talk to him. I’m trying to change. But Satan seems to interpose little obstacles that hinder my engaging with the living Son of God. This morning, during my quiet time, I found myself putting off talking to him.
After reading and meditating on the passages for today, I wanted to move on and read a couple of devotionals, instead of praying first. I said to myself, ‘I’ll read Oswald Chambers and John Piper to see what they have to say this morning. Then I’ll talk to Jesus.” Clearly, I preferred reading what some men had to say about Jesus rather than hearing from the living Lord right there in my dining room.
By grace, I realized that I was stalling, and with the Lord present! That felt embarrassing. What could be more important than being together, face to face with our Father, our Brother and the Holy Spirit, the triune almighty and holy God?
If you’re like me, then we need to accept as fact that we’ll encounter some kind of resistance, maybe even every day. Proof positive, that Satan doesn’t want us relying on the presence of God, of talking to him and hearing from him. Much ‘safer’ if we just discuss the Lord, as someone from the past. Even as we pay lip service to the reality of the living Jesus.
What can we do? Wearing a rubber band or bracelet on your wrist might be a tool, or setting a timer to ping every 30 minutes as a reminder. What I’m choosing to do is use my little old-school 4×6 spiral notebook. I look at it frequently throughout my day. This morning I added another ‘to do’:
“Talk to you, Jesus, throughout the day.”
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