God And Mountains

John 20:26-31

Paulo and his dad got up early to hike the valley below the Teton Mountains. As Paulo looked at the glistening snowcapped peaks, his dad took pictures. “What a wonderful God we have to create this beauty!” exclaimed Dad.

Paulo was quiet a moment. Then he said, “I wish my friend Ben were here. He says God doesn’t exist since we can’t see him. Maybe seeing these mountains would convince him.”

“You could show him some pictures of the mountains,” suggested Dad. “He won’t be able to see the actual mountains—just the pictures. But I’m sure he’ll understand that, even though we can’t see the mountains from our house, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And—”

“And it’s the same with God, right?” interrupted Paulo eagerly.

“Right,” agreed Dad.

Paulo continued, “But we’ll have pictures to remind us of the mountains. We don’t have real pictures of Jesus.”

“No,” agreed Dad. “But we do have the Bible, and we have faith in God. The Bible tells us about the life and teachings of Jesus—how he came in human form to the earth long ago and was crucified. He died and was buried, but he rose again. After he arose, his disciples saw him. Since he returned to heaven, those of us on earth can’t physically see him anymore, but we have the true stories from those who did see him.”

Paulo nodded. “I know what I’ll tell Ben when we get home,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ll tell him he can learn about our trip from looking at our pictures and listening to me. And he can learn about Jesus from looking at the Bible and listening to its stories. Even though we can’t see Jesus, we still know he exists.”

How about You?

Do you remember that Jesus is just as alive today as he was when he walked the earth? Even though we cannot see him with human eyes, his teachings are just as real now as they were during the time of the disciples. He is the Author of life and the Conqueror of death.

Memorize:

“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.” Hebrews 11:1