‘Mummy, is Jesus pretend’? This was the question posed to me recently by my 4yr old son. What a question! A four year old’s life is full of make believe and pretend – Santa Claus, imaginary friends, pretend tea-party guests, pretend fires to put out with his fire truck and pretend patients to see when dressed up as a doctor, the list goes on. I asked my son, ‘why would you think Jesus is pretend’? He said ‘well because I can’t see him.’ Of course, I had to take time to explain to him that Jesus is very real and that we can’t see him because he doesn’t walk the earth any more, that He ascended to Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us.
Isn’t this question one that is in many adult’s hearts too? ‘Is Jesus real, because at the minute I can’t see Him. My life is a mess and where is Jesus’? There is a poem that I first read as a teenage that describes this perfectly:
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:
“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me.”
The LORD replied:
“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”
When trouble is all around, have faith that even though you cannot see Him, He is with you.
Remember the story of doubting Thomas? The Bible says in John 20 that when Thomas learned that Jesus had risen from the dead he said he would not believe that Jesus had risen unless he could see in his Lord’s hand the evidence of the nails that had pierced them, and to thrust his own hand into the wound in his Master’s side. When Jesus appeared to him, He allowed him to touch his wounds but then He said: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” The New Living Translations says: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see”.
God loves us so much that He sent The Holy Spirit to be with us. While we need to believe without seeing with our physical eyes, we have what our spiritual eyes can see. If you do not have a personal relationship with The Holy Spirit, I encourage you today to study more about the personality of His personality and learn to walk with Him. He is the third person of the Trinity and it is He that helps us to understand the bible and empowers us to walk the Christian walk. Many Christians who have doubts about their faith have no relationship with the Holy Spirit because they are practicing Christianity in a ritualistic way – going to church, trying to live a good life, reading the bible and praying, yet it seems that something is missing. Does this describe you?
When you allow the Holy Spirit to have a place in your life, when you walk hand in hand with him, your Christian Walk will be so alive, so exciting and dynamic. You will wake up every day excited about life and what God will tell you today. Yes, God will be speaking to you, that still small voice you have heard others talk about is The Holy Spirit. He will help you to take decisions, help you to pray, make the Bible come to life and help you to share your faith and see miracles happen all around you.
Serving God without evidence is a challenge but He gave us all the evidence we need in the person of The Holy Spirit who is the tangible, visible manifestation of God. Get to know Him today and your life will not be the same again!
Watch out for part 2 of this message when we will learn more about The Holy Spirit.
