Romans 1: 20, Colossians 1: 15
I served as a youth volunteer in my two "adulthood" churches for more than 30 years. At one point, our church had a tradition on the last night of youth retreats. The youth would sit in a circle and pass around "The Christ Candle." They could speak (or refrain from speaking) on any topic they chose, but they were prompted to use "How I Saw God This Weekend" as a go-to topic if they weren't sure.
Typically the youth would say that they saw God in two ways: Through nature or through people. The chance to be out in the natural wonder of the retreat center would inspire them to remember how God created the world and how beautiful it is. The chance to be with friends and to meet new people would alert them to meaningful interactions, inspiring messages, or acts of kindness that glorified the source, our God.
This is a good question for ourselves: How did you see God today? Perhaps this is a way we can connect to God at the end of each day as we pursue a 7-day practical faith.
When I talk to someone who doesn't believe in God, one of their top objections is that they can't see God. Scripture tells us in Romans 1:20 that we have ample opportunity to see God through His creation:
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Sometimes we learn about somebody through their impact. Practically every person in the world today never met individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., or Abraham Lincoln, or Johannes Gutenberg, and yet their impact is still felt today.
Of course, someone may say, "But those were real people." So was Jesus. There is no credible evidence that Jesus did not exist; He is even mentioned in Roman historical records. As Christians, we believe that Jesus not only existed, but was Immanuel, God in the flesh with us. Colossians 1:15 reads:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
If you want to see God, look to Jesus. No, you can't literally see Jesus anymore, although we have extensive documentation of people in the Bible who saw Him both before He died and after He was resurrected. But we also see His impact in the world, through His individual followers and through His church that has now lasted more than 2,000 years. The church isn't as popular now as it was, but it is and will be everlasting, because it was instituted by Christ, and He has no intent of giving up on it.
So we see God in His creation. We see God in scripture. We see God through Jesus' institution of the church. We see God through the loving, faithful acts of those who are His disciples today. We see God in beauty, and we even see God when people are in crisis and despair. We see God when a baby is born, and we see God when we are privileged to be present when someone slips away from this earth.
People ask me how they can live a 7-day practical faith. It can be very simple: Seek God in your day. One way is to ask yourself at the end of the day, "How did I see God today?" In doing so, you'll recognize better how to look for God tomorrow.
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