Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Paul the apostle said: “… we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2nd Corinthians 4:18)
And one more simple, powerful phrase from Paul: “For we walk by faith, not by sight”.
I have been thinking about two things that are vital to us that we cannot see. Those, as you have guessed from the title of this post, are music and faith.
Jesus said,”Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Ever since man chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (it wasn’t the tree of evil, it was the tree of self-sufficiency, and brought death to the part of man that lived in faith and fellowship with God), we live in a system that, especially in the west, disregards and disdains the invisible, spiritual realm. We honor those with a “good work ethic”, even if they lose their families in the process.
Of course, I am not advocating laziness in the name of faith, I am speaking about eternal, invisible realities.
That is why music is so important. We cannot see music, it is invisible. Music is a gift of God to help us engage our spiritual ears and eyes. Beyond the soul, (our will, mind and emotions), music inspired by the Holy Spirit can actually feed our spirits and help us to see the invisible, to see what Paul was seeing. Through eyes of faith… to see reality!
(Of course, it is ultimately the Word of God in the music-even instrumental music!-that is the life-giving power of the music.)
In the same way, faith not only is invisible, with faith we are able to see the invisible.
Martin Luther’s revelation of the scripture that the “just shall live by faith” symbolized a dramatic shift back to (invisible) reality. Real life is not just the temporal, it is also invisible worlds that we can only access accurately (”though through a glass darkly”) and safely through faith. Not just faith in the invisible, but “Godfaith”, faith in Jesus Christ the Living Word of God.
The book of Hebrews says (emphasis mine): “Through faith we come to understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.”
It’s not enough to “believe in faith”, to just have faith. The source of true faith, just like the source of life-giving music, is the true and Living God who reveals Himself through the scriptures, through His creation (including humanity) and most accurately through His Son, Jesus Christ.
God, the Father, was invisible to Philip and the disciples, yet Jesus talked with them often about His Father. Finally, Philip, still bound to what he could see and hear and feel, (earthbound), said, and I paraphrase: “Master, you have talked on and on about the Father and I want to believe you but it’s kinda hard. If you will just show us the Father, it will be enough for us to believe.” Jesus answered: (still my paraphrase) “Philip, you are still looking through earthbound eyes. Open your eyes of faith to see eternal things. Look at me! I have been with you all this time demonstrating the Life of My Father who lives in Me. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
Just as Jesus lived by the Father, that is, the Father was the Source, Provision, Life in Jesus, even so, through Christ, when people look at believers in Jesus, they will see God. No, we are not God, we’re His Sons and daughters. They will see Christ in us, the hope of glory!
We have a saying in Mississippi. “Why, he’s the spittin’ image of his daddy.”
Translated from the southern dialect, that phrase means: “He is the spirit and image of his father.” When those of us, who through FAITH in Jesus Christ, live by faith, eat from the Tree of Life instead of the Tree of “Self Sufficiency”, we show God to people desperately in need of rescue from themselves, in need of hope, of heavenly music, of GodLife.
Through Him we:
See the invisible
Hear the inaudible
Hold the intangible
Declare the unspeakable
Explore the unsearchable
Believe the unbelieveable
Do the impossible!
Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni