John 1:43-51
When I was a teenager I had a Panasonic radio/turntable, portable and very stylish. If you told me then about some futuristic time that involved i-phones and something called the internet I would have laughed. It would have seemed like a miracle or magic. The same would go for electro-luminescent glass, microwave ovens, power car door windows, and almost anything in the cars of today. Had they been presented in a flash I would think it was magic, maybe even evidence of the presence of God.
We can make such rash and broad decisions off of such scant testimony. How many people hear a Fox newscast that makes incredibly false and misleading statements or quotes a "government official" and those listeners are convinced of its' truth in the most vehement and belligerent way. These people want to be convinced from the get-go, almost no real facts are really required.
People wonder if miracles still occur and easily dismiss them in a wave of practical reasons why it happened. We require proof that someone loves us as much as Thomas asking to put his hand in Jesus' side. How much proof is needed before some people believe the effects of modern man on the environment? Is global warming real? Should we go on living unchecked? Is Fukushema a bad PR ploy by liberals against nuclear power?
Our required level of proof is astounding in both directions. We believe a great deal on scant evidence and fail to believe the most important in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Where am I headed? How much evidence will it take to realize how much God loves you? There may be bad stuff going on the world, in your world, but there surely is tons of great stuff and great people around you. When I go outside and see the absolute beauty of the Coral Bells in my garden, I absolutely am convinced and know in every fiber of my being that God is love. God loves those Bells and as sure as that, God loves me with reckless abandon. Then I leave for work and I gently kiss the most wonderful husband in the world, sleeping soundly like a cherub, I know I am loved. No further proof required.
What proof do you require to know God loves you and that God created you with purpose and intent? God loves you just the way you are, imperfect, on your way to wholeness, stumbling, loving, gay, straight or somewhere in between. God loves you.
What proof do you require? Open your eyes and look around. Look in a mirror.
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ 46Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ 48Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ 49Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ 50Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ 51And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you,* you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and desce
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