Faith-Informed Sight
Seeing is believing. At face value, the phrase seems true enough, but what if believing actually has a much stronger influence on how we see than we might expect? Believing is often associated with what we can’t see while seeing is related to the physical. I’d suggest what we believe creates a bias to what we see.
Remember when you were shopping for your first car? You walk on the used car lot and a specific make and model jumps out at you. Your parents urge you to exercise caution, give it a couple days, and see if it is the car you truly want. Those next couple days are peculiar ones because suddenly, like it’s the only car on the road, you see Pontiac G6’s everywhere you go.
God didn’t dump hundreds more G6’s on the road for you to see those next few days, there were the same amount of them on the road today as there were yesterday, but now you’re looking for them. You believe this is the car you want and now you see them everywhere.
The way we view the world is not much different. Confirmation bias is constantly running through how we perceive. In and of itself, this isn’t a bad thing, it’s simply something we need to be aware of and it can make things confusingly mirky.
The culture we find ourselves in runs nearly exclusively on what we can see and what we can define. Sight rules the day. It’s this reality that stifles the growth and interest of many from religious pursuit. Paul mentions these counter-cultural words in one of his letters, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
To give some context, Paul is contrasting the difference between living here on earth in our physical, finite bodies to the hope of one day living with God in our new, eternal bodies. Paul’s simply pointing to a more complete way to live rather than only focusing on the physical.
The world would like us to believe, if you can’t see it then don’t believe it. When in reality, we all believe something and it strongly informs how we see everything. So, friend, what do you really believe? This is not a question of what “should” you believe, but what “do” you believe.
How we answer this question is of paramount importance because it functions as the lens in which we view the world through. Knowing what you believe will help you more accurately interpret what you see.
I could see my fifth G6 of the morning driving down the road and take it as a sign from the Lord that I’m supposed to buy that car – and it might be. I could also interpret the excitement as a confirmation that, deep down, I would like to buy that car.
This prompts another challenge. You may be asking yourself, so, if we just see what we believe how do we know that what we believe is right? You don’t. This is why, as believers, we’re called to faith. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and convinced of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). And also, “You’ll know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:13). It’s helpful to assess what hope and fruit your belief is producing.
There is a level of trust that’s required. But be sure of this, the evidence for the Gospel of Jesus is overwhelming. He is worth putting your faith in. Jesus is moving, speaking, and fully alive today. Declare your faith in Him, look around, don’t be shocked if what you see begins to look like what you believe.
