Seek and Find
I believe in God who created all things and I also believe in the sun in the sky
as the star which warms our earth. But I do not believe in them in the same way.
I believe in the sun because I have seen it, but I believe in God by faith.
But suppose for a moment that I had never seen the sun, and you told me about
it. And let’s say that I believed you when you told me it was about 93 million
miles away and it’s light made the sky blue and it warmed our planet. So, having
never seen the sun, I would be accepting the existence of the sun by faith. But
also notice this: even if I refused to believe you, that would not make the sun
any less real. It would still be there whether I believed you or not. My faith,
or lack of it, would have absolutely no effect on the fact of whether the sun
actually existed or not.
But I have seen the sun. Not believing in it is hardly an option for me, unless
I become unreasonable in my thinking. . But I have not seen God, so unbelief in
Him is an option. But my refusing to believe in God still would not make Him any
less real! Just like with the sun, my belief in God, or lack of it, does not
make Him any more or less real than He is. It has absolutely no effect on the
fact of whether God actually exists or not.
Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7,8). Faith is an
option. God has left convincing evidence, but does not force me to believe. It
is up to me. If I seek Him I will find Him. If I choose not to seek Him, then I
will find something else. One who has sought and found God develops an awareness
of His existence and presence, and this knowledge of God is based on the
evidence the Lord Himself has provided. And no amount of sin and unbelief in the
world can change the reality of God. Neither does the fact that I accept Him by
faith mean that my belief is not valid, for I have sought and found Him.
By Jon W. Quinn
The Front Page
From Expository Files 17.10; October 2010
