Last week, I realized when it was too late, that the first panel of Currents did not contain an important link which carried the remainder of the article. I’d love it if you’d read that short article here: Believe your eyes. | LifeSpring Church.
In Panel One I hope to continue to explore the visual, sensual nature of our faith. Jesus, for example, went to great pains to confirm what the disciples found by touching them, eating with them, and talking at length with them. I can’t help but be reminded of the closing remarks of Keith Ellison in the murder trial of George Floyd’s killer. “Believe your eyes,” Ellison told the jury.
We can’t claim first-hand experience with Jesus. We weren’t there when he cooked fish by the Sea of Galilee. But we can listen to first-hand reports. We can find historical accounts of those first disciples and the next generation after them, and in these accounts, we can have nearly first-hand experiences.
In what I think is an extraordinary reaction, the first followers of Jesus did not follow their inclinations which were fearful from the start. Hiding in an upper room, conjuring “alternative” theories about what happened to Jesus’ body, and showing the depression and discouragement of people who had just lost their leader, the disciples did not remain there long.
In the following weeks, they were transformed individuals. You could say they took Keith Ellison’s advice to “believe your eyes.” And they did, leading them to become bold and risk-taking people. Totally given to their faith in Jesus.
Two thousand years later, we have their testimonials, and we can follow in their faith. Believe your eyes.