The invisible becomes visible

Last year at Dulles Airport, there was an exhibition on photomicrography specifically designed to show 50.000 magnification cells. The wall-sized images showed the individual sections of the brain where the signals are received, beginning with individual hairs in the inner ear that are responsible for the sense of balance. The exhibition offered a rare and beautiful insight into an invisible world and that reminded me of an important part of our everyday lives as Christians: the faith.

In the Letter to the Hebrews we read that faith is the firm confidence in what one hopes for, a conviction of facts that are not visible (Schlachter 2000). Just like those pictures, belief shows our reaction to a reality that cannot simply be perceived with our five senses. Belief that God exists comes from hearing and becomes a firm belief with the help of the Holy Spirit. What we have heard about God's nature and character, visible in Jesus Christ, guides us to place our trust in him and his promises, even if their full fulfillment is still pending. Trusting in God and his word makes love for him clearly visible. Together we become carriers of the hope that we have in God's sovereignty, who will overcome all evil with good, wipe away all tears and bring everything right.

For one thing, we know that one day every knee will bend and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, but then we know that the time has not yet come. None of us has ever seen the coming kingdom of God. Therefore, God expects us to keep faith in the remaining transitional period: faith or trust in his promises, in his goodness, in his righteousness, and in his love for us as his children. By faith we obey him, and by faith we can make visible the invisible kingdom of God.

By trusting in God's promises and putting the teachings of Christ into practice through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, we can give a living testimony of God's coming reign in the here and now, simply through our actions, our speech and through it how we love our fellow human beings.

by Joseph Tkach


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