The notion of “seeing is believing” is prevalent in our world. The saying might call to mind an advertisement for a vacation spot or perhaps one for the local car dealer. The validity of this notion is deeply ingrained in our culture as evidenced by Missouri being the “Show Me” state, the common encouragement to see for yourself or the weight an “eye witness” account plays in our judicial system. This last example is one where we begin to recognize that there are limits to the statement “seeing is believing.” After all, much eye witness testimony may be excluded as less than credible if the person giving the account is a close associate of the defendant or if they are not mentally stable or if they were not sober at the time of the “seeing.” Even more so, eye witness testimony becomes suspect when 20 years or more have past since the seeing. So sometimes “seeing isn’t believing.”

Another realm where “seeing is believing” becomes substantially ingrained in our culture and mindset is Science. The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based upon observable, empirical, measurable evidence, subject to specific principles of reasoning. That little word observable is an important one for our discussion. Let me tell you, I love science. I love knowledge, and I love certainty. However, more than a few nights in a lab have shown me that observations yield much information, but a mountain of information does not necessarily yield certainty. This fact is driven home the morning after an all night lab session when your information seems to indicate that the monitoring equipment was faulty or perhaps your lab partner was half asleep or dyslexic or so caffeine laden that he couldn’t write clearly. This may be a simplistic example, but none the less it points out that there are limits to “seeing is believing” in the scientific realm. Furthermore, in the internet age of much information, much information often clouds and confuses our ability to see clearly.

All this to say that I would agree in many cases that “seeing is believing.” However it is essential to my soul and refreshing to my spirit that I also understand that “believing is seeing.” Consider the discussion that Jesus had with Philip immediately following his statement that He is the way, the truth and the life. The following is John 14 verse 7 through verse 11. “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone that has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

I am so thankful that this exchange was recorded and preserved for us. You may think that Philip didn’t have much faith considering the circumstances, but Philip’s experience and struggle with faith is the same human experience and struggle with faith that we all must face. Sooner or later we all must recognize that “seeing is believing” only takes us so far and that making the leap to “believing is seeing” is what our soul is yearning to experience. So let me encourage you to take the leap and see the world in a whole new way.

Life and death. These two words represent the extremes of our world. You may not think they are such a big deal, but let me assure you they are a matter of life and death. We spend part of our lives marvelling and amazed at the birth of a child or the blooming of a flower. We also spend part of our lives crying and confused at the death of a loved one or the loss of a cherished family pet. In our search to reconcile these two opposites we may wax philosophical and scientific about the life cycle of our fragile yet hearty existence. However, philosophy and science will never be able to reconcile these two extremes and satisfy that nagging, bothersome feeling in the pit of your stomach.

As John 14:6 states Jesus is “the life.” But I would like to make it even more clear by simply stating Jesus is life. John 1:3 and 4 states so beautifully and eloquently his explicit connection with life. It says, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” May I suggest we need to stop attempting to reconcile life and death and understand that the two are not connected. Life emanates from who Jesus Christ is. Death emanates as a consequence of sin. Our Earth was designed for life by its creator. Death is an interloper incongruent with our intended purpose and our Earth’s intended purpose. Romans 5:12 says “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all have sinned.” This passage explicitly connects man’s sin with death’s entry into our world. Thankfully in a world tainted by sin and death we can still see the “light of men”.

The “light of men”, Jesus Christ, demonstrated his love for us in this: while we were still sinnners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us, was buried and rose again the third day. In this way Jesus Christ triumphed over death and began restoring our Earth to its intended form. His triumph over death has provided a way for our salvation and participation in eternal life. Romans 10:9 says “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Is this the way, the truth and the life you know?

“What is Truth?” This question spoken by Pontius Pilate in John 18:38 expresses concisely the great quandry and yearning of man. The poet in me longs to express truths as concisely and beautifully as possible. The historian in me wants to know the exact details of so many events that have long become blurred by time. The relative of a victim longs to know the whole truth of what occurred to their loved one even after their killer is convicted.

The tremendous irony of this question asked by Pilate is that he was standing face to face with the embodiment of truth at the moment he asked it. All of his questions, quandries and yearnings could be resolved by the man he mockingly asked “What is truth?” When Jesus stated he was “the truth” in John 14:6 he made one of the boldest proclamations that man has ever heard. In John 1:17 we read that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” When I consider the man that defined the path that I am following I am comforted and emboldened to know that he is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

In John 14:6 Jesus states simply and powerfully that he is the way. Note he does not say that he is “a” way or “one” way. He is “the” way. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:13-14 we find a fuller description of the word picture of a path. Jesus advises to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” We can conclude from this additional scripture that the path we should follow is a road less travelled. Although it is less travelled we have the comfort that someone has gone before us and that if we are alert and focused it can be followed.

I ask the above question just as much to myself as I do to anyone else. I wrote the poem that you hopefully viewed as you entered this site while pondering life and in particular my existence. How did I come to be and since I do exist why do I exist. These simple questions are not simply resolved. However, I am thankful for and embrace a man who lived in our realm named Jesus Christ. To me he is much more than a man. He is the way, the truth and the life.

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’