1550) I’ve written before that while growing up, I felt that people mentioned in the Bible as having great faith (or demonstrating it in their actions) had an advantage over me. After all, didn’t they hear God’s words and experienced or witnessed great miracles? Wouldn’t faith in God be so much easier under these circumstances? The answer to these questions is no. Why?

In the parable Jesus told, The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), a beggar named Lazarus dies and so does a rich man. The beggar was brought to stand by Abraham and the rich man went to Hades. After his pleas for mercy are denied, the rich man begs to be allowed to come back from the dead, temporarily, to warn his family about this place. The rich man is told at the end of the story that if people did not listen to the messages of Moses and the prophets (the only part of the Bible people had then), they will not be convinced, even if someone raised from the dead appears to them.

As I have meditated on these truths, I have thought about how my mind would have processed any miracles I may have witnessed. At first, I think I would be overwhelmingly connected with God, but then, after some time passes, I think it would be easy to disqualify what I witnessed. Did I really see what I did? Can’t we explain the event through human effort or what science “now knows”? Maybe I was just seeing things. Was that really Jesus’ voice speaking or did I just think it was his? I think you get my point.

Spending our time saying we’ll believe in God and Jesus’ way of salvation only if we see a miracle is a poor use of time. After all, seeing isn’t always believing.