08/29/2025
How strong is our belief in Christ? Have we grown in our faith to the place where those things that are not seen leave shadows before us? Is heaven as real to us as the earthly home we return to each night? When Jesus holds our hand can we feel the warmth of the blood coursing through it and the love of His touch? Following the death of Moses, God spoke wonderful words to Joshua as He gave him His anointing. He gave him encouragement and directed him, but not once did He feel inclined to command that Joshua’s faith be strengthened, nor did He ask Joshua to trust in Him... because He already did. God didn't say who He was because Joshua already knew His voice. Listen as God speaks...
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."”
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Jesus spoke words of encouragement to us as well. It is interesting that He also told His disciples to be brave. He encouraged their belief, but like God did with Joshua He did not tell them to increase it their trust in who He was. Listen as He speaks to them...
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27 ESV
We have our faith and it is in the things which are unseen; those are things in which we have come to believe "just because", and out of hope, not because we have touched them experienced them, or seen them, but because our reasoning tells us they must exist, and because our heart leads us to them. The apostle Paul tells us such in Hebrews when he says...
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
But what happens when the thing we have faith in becomes real? What happens when Jesus is standing before us and, like Thomas, we put our fingers in the wound in His side? Friends, something amazing happens at that moment... our faith becomes trust and belief.
When I was in the sixth grade we were learning long division, and it was a complete mystery to me. Each day I would go to the chalkboard and the teacher would give me a problem to work, and each day I was befuddled, and she would come to walk me through the solution. I had trust in her but had very little faith in myself. Then one day something amazing happened, I walked to the board, picked up the chalk, and as I stared at the problem she had written, a light came on in my head and the solution became perfectly clear to me. My chalk made the quick loud tapping sound on the board, and I became someone who was confident they knew the solution... someone who trusted in their ability. On that day, my faith and hope became belief and trust; it became real to me.
Have you experienced that kind of moment with God and Jesus? Has your faith strengthened itself through the many lessons of life until you at last met God face to face, or realized that the person you have been walking with on your road to Emmaus was actually Jesus Christ, just as the two apostles did in the biblical story of the Road to Emmaus? If it has then God and Jesus are no longer objects of faith and hope to you, they have become real, and in them your faith has been transformed and become belief, and your hope has become trust.
Faith is still required, even in those things and people we trust; let me give you an example. I knew that my mother loved me and wanted only the best for me, but one afternoon when she said to me "choose your friends wisely", it required faith for me to believe she was right and to obey her. The rough necked boy down the street that seemed so cool to me and was the object of our conversation that day, was a big man in school and I really wanted others to see me as his friend. I struggled with my mother's advice, but in the end my faith in her wisdom won out and my desire to be seen with him waned. A few years later he was arrested and convicted of a felony... he wasn't so cool anymore. Had I lost faith in my mother's advice and guidance I might have been with him in prison.
At some point in our lives of faith we will physically meet God and His Son Jesus, and in that moment our great faith in them that has been building over days, months, or years, will transition into belief. The person who we had been speaking to as we walked the path of faith, and that we had hoped in, will suddenly be casting a very real shadow before us. Jesus will have become real to us and we will be able to see him in everything we do. God's voice will no longer be something we hear only in our minds to something we can now hear with our ears. Are we there yet, or, are we still one of the faithful?
We all set off on our spiritual journeys as faithful followers. We have a seed of faith in us the size of a mustard seed, but somewhere along the way as our seed germinates and begins to grow, and as it continues to grow, we will meet the man who comes to tend it and hear the voice of He who created it. This might happen to us today, or it might not occur until we are called into judgement at resurrection, but it will most certainly happen. Some of us are destined for trust, while others among us will live their entire lives with faith alone. Jesus acknowledged this distinction in His words to Thomas when He told him, and us, something wonderful about our time of faith in Him... Our faith can actually become strong enough that it prompts us to believe.
“Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."”
John 20:29 ESV
So, whether we have seen and now trust, or have not seen and believe totally by faith, there is a blessing in both. Much like my mother in whom I trusted, those who have heard or seen God and Jesus will still be required to have faith as they follow Them. We all must have faith in Their Word and Commandments even when we believe in who they are. As for those who are still believing in Them purely out of faith, you must continue to believe in Them this way, because with no real benefit in having seen or heard, your faith will sustain you until your eyes are opened and your hand touches the wounded side of Jesus. In this lack of touch, our faith will hold us firm until we receive the blessing that Jesus spoke of with Thomas. Rest assured however that there is a day coming when we will all see and touch Jesus. It may be in this life, or the promised life to come when we are led before the throne of judgement; but it will come.
Is our faith just strong enough to allow us to see a misty shadow leading on before us, or has He revealed Himself to us and made His shadow real? Either way, His purpose for where we are at... in either trust, or faith, should not worry us because He loves us and will lead us in both. Perhaps He tells us to increase our faith in Him, maybe Jesus will tell us to put our hand into His side, or as it was with Joshua our grain of faith could have already become trust, but regardless, God and Jesus will cast their shadows in our lives and lead us in our faith to hear the truth in what scripture reveals to us.
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
John 17:16-18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for revealing yourself to some and requiring others to have faith in you throughout their lives. Father I thank you for the hope I have in seeing you face to face and the real examples you give me in the Christ-like lives of my brothers and sisters, your followers. I thank you more Lord for those many who believe in you without seeing, for you said they are blessed, and all should have faith in that blessing of which you spoke... those who trust, and those who have faith in you alike. Lead us along the path of righteousness that brings us to you in fullness, and which allows us to face judgement with Jesus by our side... confident in your Word. I pray that on that day all of us will be Trusting! But until then give me the faith I need to continue my walk towards righteousness and holiness; let me see your shadow before me until I witness the dust rising from the feet of Jesus and hear your true voice calling out to me. Until that day Abba, I will praise your name, worship you, and thank you for the tiny mustard seed of faith you have given me.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes