We must believe in order to see

Everyone, I'm sure, has heard the phrase, "You have to see it to believe it." I was watching a commercial this evening for a movie about a magical toy store. The catch phrase was "you have to believe it to see it."

Is our faith sometimes like that?

Are there times when it is necessary to believe before we can see?

One of the things we talked about in class tonight was the idea of surrendering our failures. As JtM said, our failures can paralyze us -- either as an individual or as a church. We have to surrender them to God. I think we have to believe that he will grant us grace and restore us to a relationship with him. We have to believe it as an individual, and we have to believe it as a church, in order to see what God is doing in our lives.

In order to feel close to God, in order to develop a relationship with him, in order to see him, is it necessary that we must first believe in him? Must we believe in the idea that he IS closer than we think in order for us to see that he is?

Images: Matt's camp fire as Asbury Woods on Sunday evening.