HomeWord - Nov. 30, 2006
Proof vs. Mystery
This devotional was written by Robin Dugall
But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. John 6:36
“To stand on one leg and prove God’s existence is a very different thing from going on one’s knees and thanking Him.” Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
“Prove it!” I heard that phrase numerous times when I was a small child. When children get together, there are often stories being told that would best be regarded as “tale tales.” That’s why we learn at a young age that we want proof. Don’t tell me what I should believe is real or not real…prove it! Don’t tell me that the man next door keeps an elephant in his garage…prove it! That’s how many of us learned when we were children. We wanted proof! We wanted to put our hands on it, to taste it, to see it, to experience something that was real, or else it was just a fantasy.
It doesn’t take too much of a stretch of imagination to see how the “prove it” attitude comes sneaking into our understanding of God. If something had to be proved real when we were small, innocent, and naïve, it had to pass the same criteria as we started to emerge into the adult world. For many people in the world and in our culture, unless God can be proved, He doesn’t exist. Unless you can point to a picture of Jesus, or had actually been present when Jesus walked on water, it couldn’t have happened because it can’t be proven. In our world, we gain meaning by those things that can be proven real with our senses. And unless something can be proven real, it isn’t real. To one degree or another, we all struggle with what is real.
Yet a life in the
To comment on today's devotional, click here .
GOING DEEPER:
1. Try to remember some of the times you said, “prove it.” What was going on in your mind? Why did you need proof?
2. Does it bother you that we can’t prove God’s existence (conclusively)? Why is proving God’s existence so important to some people? How do you “explain” God?
FURTHER READING:
1 Peter 1:3-9; Psalm 35; John 20:26-29
Encouraging Parents…Building Families |
|
Other FREE resources from HomeWord and Jim Burns: |