Day 81 "Just Show Yourself, God, and I'll Believe!"

"All this faith stuff is hard to do when you can't see what you are supposed to have faith in."

Ever feel like that? In the movie Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, Rod Tidwel, put it succinctly, "Just show me the money!" There was a time in my life that I wanted God to reveal himself to me, "Just show yourself and I'll believe." I was ten years old at the time.

A lot of things have transpired in my life since that day, and along the way, on numerous occasions, I have sought for God to reveal his presence to me- to show me that all this stuff about him was real and that I could rely on him. How could I trust something or someone I could not see?

As I got older, having grown up in a somewhat dysfunctional family, I came to realize that trusting wasn't just a need in that which cannot be seen but also that which can be seen. People that you love and that can see physically, can let you down. There was something more underlying the ability to trust that I was missing. As I continued to go through life and experienced various relationships-parents, sibling, friends, work, marriage, children, divorce, remarry, grandchildren, strangers- I came to understand, that for me, trust was a condition I experienced when my heart was satisfied in the love from the person that I trusted. The more love I felt, the more I could trust and be myself with that person.

So, was it really my need to see God in order to trust him? Or was it really an issue of whether I knew God loved me, that I could trust him? And did I love God enough to trust him without seeing him? I have needed help. I have needed comfort. I have needed a friend. I have needed guidance. I have needed hope. I have needed assurance. I have needed encouragement. I have needed forgiveness. I have needed purpose. And along the way, as my understanding of God's love for me grew, so did my trust in God. And as this trust for God grew, the need to see God in person continued to diminish until one day, I realized such a strong awareness of his love for me that I felt his presence even though I could not see him. God had been there the whole time, but it took a whole lot of time for me to take my eyes off of my selfish self in order to see things differently through the eyes of love.

Some have affirmed God's presence like the wind, you can't see it but you can see the effects of its presence. Today, throughout the world, though we cannot see the Coronavirus with our own eyes, we are, nevertheless, made aware of its presence by the deaths and sickness that have embroiled us. There are many things in this life that we cannot see, but their existence is still a reality. However, when it comes to God, he has provided a way for us to see him better. His name is Jesus.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through

me." John 14:6

If we look at who Jesus is, we will see the Father:

Philip said, "Show us the Father and that will be enough for for us." Jesus answered, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." John 14:8-9

John the Baptist remarked, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,

who is at the Father's side, had made him known." John 1:18

Jesus, himself, said, "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father." John 6:46

Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he see the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." John 12:44-46

Jesus said: "For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it." John 12:49

Jesus said: "So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." John 12:50

Jesus said: "but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me." John 14:31

Jesus said: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. John 15:9

Jesus said: "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known

in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:26

Jesus said: "No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." John 16:27

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. John 13:1 (And then proceeded to wash the feet of his disciples. John 13:2-15)

Upon the cross, Jesus prayed for the soldiers who were crucifying him: "Jesus said, “Father,forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." Luke 23:24

As you look at the life of Jesus and how he reacted with mankind, you will see the Heavenly Father, and his love for us, through the life of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. I have grown in my understanding of Christ's love for us. In return, my love for him has grown

in return. And in the midst of such love, I have grown in my trust. I don't need to see God, himself, any longer. All I need to do now is to look at the heart of Jesus. And when I do, I see the heart of the Father and I cry out, "Abba, Father."

"For God so loved the world that he have his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

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May you see the love of the Father through the love of his Son.

In his love, see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)