Seeing But Not Believing

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by: Pastor Joey Vazquez

09/29/2022

1

John 12:37 (NLT) But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.

There is an old proverb that says that "seeing is believing," which means that we will only believe something if we see it for ourselves. That goes directly against what faith in Christ Jesus is all about. When Thomas finally believed that Jesus had resurrected from the dead after putting his finger is His wounds, Jesus told him "you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe who haven't seen me." (John 20:29) Most people in this world live by believing what they see and not believing in what they don't see. But I think that when it comes to Jesus, not believing because you haven't seen is all a facade. I believe that people don't believe in Jesus not because they haven't seen Him, but because they don't like the implications of what believing in Him would mean to their lives.

A prime example of this is what happened when Jesus was here on earth. He did everything that you can imagine to make it obvious who He was and is, but it did no good. Jesus caused blind people to see, lame people to walk, lepers to be made clean, demon-possessed people to be liberated, and even raised people that were already physically dead, to life. But the people still didn't believe. When Jesus did one of His greatest miracles, raising a man named Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days (his body was already decaying), the Pharisee's reaction was that they plotted to kill Jesus and Lazarus too, because people who saw Lazarus alive began to believe in Jesus. Think about that. They wanted to kill the guy who Jesus raised from the dead just because it proved who He really was (John 12:10). People who say seeing is believing would think that the people who saw all that Jesus did and how He taught with so much authority would definitely believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But they didn't.

Some people today say that if they would see a miracle in Jesus' name, they would believe in Him. But that's not really true. I personally know a few people that were healed miraculously in the name of Jesus who are not serving Him today. The reason why most people don't believe is that they don't want to. They don't want to admit that Jesus is who He said that He is because that would mean that they would have to then submit to Him as the God who created them. It would change their whole way of living. They wouldn't be able to do want they wanted to do but would then have to do what God wants them to do. It's just pure rebellion against God. The way that they try to get around the idea of God is to either say that He doesn't exist, or to say that He does exist but that He is far away in heaven and doesn't get involved in our affairs. How sad it is that so many are losing out on the richest and most soul-satisfying life ever, which is to love and serve Jesus, just to hang on to the pitiful things that the world has to offer, which do nothing to satisfy the soul. I pray that as you are reading this, that you do believe in Jesus and that you have surrendered your life to Him. I also pray that if you haven't believed in Jesus, that He will open your eyes to the truth so that the truth will set you free.

Pastor Joey Vazquez

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John 12:37 (NLT) But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.

There is an old proverb that says that "seeing is believing," which means that we will only believe something if we see it for ourselves. That goes directly against what faith in Christ Jesus is all about. When Thomas finally believed that Jesus had resurrected from the dead after putting his finger is His wounds, Jesus told him "you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe who haven't seen me." (John 20:29) Most people in this world live by believing what they see and not believing in what they don't see. But I think that when it comes to Jesus, not believing because you haven't seen is all a facade. I believe that people don't believe in Jesus not because they haven't seen Him, but because they don't like the implications of what believing in Him would mean to their lives.

A prime example of this is what happened when Jesus was here on earth. He did everything that you can imagine to make it obvious who He was and is, but it did no good. Jesus caused blind people to see, lame people to walk, lepers to be made clean, demon-possessed people to be liberated, and even raised people that were already physically dead, to life. But the people still didn't believe. When Jesus did one of His greatest miracles, raising a man named Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days (his body was already decaying), the Pharisee's reaction was that they plotted to kill Jesus and Lazarus too, because people who saw Lazarus alive began to believe in Jesus. Think about that. They wanted to kill the guy who Jesus raised from the dead just because it proved who He really was (John 12:10). People who say seeing is believing would think that the people who saw all that Jesus did and how He taught with so much authority would definitely believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But they didn't.

Some people today say that if they would see a miracle in Jesus' name, they would believe in Him. But that's not really true. I personally know a few people that were healed miraculously in the name of Jesus who are not serving Him today. The reason why most people don't believe is that they don't want to. They don't want to admit that Jesus is who He said that He is because that would mean that they would have to then submit to Him as the God who created them. It would change their whole way of living. They wouldn't be able to do want they wanted to do but would then have to do what God wants them to do. It's just pure rebellion against God. The way that they try to get around the idea of God is to either say that He doesn't exist, or to say that He does exist but that He is far away in heaven and doesn't get involved in our affairs. How sad it is that so many are losing out on the richest and most soul-satisfying life ever, which is to love and serve Jesus, just to hang on to the pitiful things that the world has to offer, which do nothing to satisfy the soul. I pray that as you are reading this, that you do believe in Jesus and that you have surrendered your life to Him. I also pray that if you haven't believed in Jesus, that He will open your eyes to the truth so that the truth will set you free.

Pastor Joey Vazquez

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1 Comments on this post:

Mark A Smith

Thanks pastor