‘Seeing is believing’ is a saying we often hear. I guess it goes all the way back to Thomas the apostle who said, ‘Unless I see I will not believe.’ For this, he has become forever known as ‘Doubting Thomas’. But is it true that seeing is believing? 

What about when we watch a magician perform a trick? What we see is an illusion. And, what about when people are convicted of a crime on eye-witness testimony? We know there are many cases of mistaken identity. 

Yes, to see for yourself is important but, if what we see is all that we believe as true, then we are left with huge amounts of things we cannot believe. For instance, I cannot see the air but I breathe it every few seconds.

Jesus said to Thomas, ‘You believe because you have seen, blessed are they that believe who haven’t seen.’ 

Those who believe without seeing have already been granted a blessing. 

In Psalm 27:13, when David was exhausted and near his limit he said: ‘I would have lost heart had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’

You see, believing helps us to see what is not visible to others. When you believe:

You see the world through a different lens. You see it from the perspective of a son or daughter whose father created it all.

You see that your life is in the hands of God and that he is a loving father who wants what is best for you. You can see past the veil of life’s circumstance.

You see death not as the ultimate and inevitable calamity the world sees, but rather the entrance into eternal glory.

We can live without seeing, blind people have to every day, but we cannot live eternally without believing.