How will they know?

One of my favourite stories took place about one hundred years ago while I was in Bible School. I had been working at a Ski Shop in Grouse Mountain when I discovered that taking the tram on a clear day, is perhaps the most amazing view of Vancouver and the lower mainland one is ever going to see.

One day a friend from work and I decided we were going to hike along the ridge between Grouse Mountain and an adjoining peak called Goat Mountain. If you've ever been to Vancouver, one of the tourist highlights found on postcards all over town is a view of twin peaks called the Lions. Well, the ridge we were hiking that day runs between Grouse and the Lions. It’s a spectacular area to hike in and pretty high up.

As you hike up to the top of Goat Mountain, you come out above the tree line and stand on the edge of a pretty significant drop where you can see Vancouver and the lower mainland, and on this particularly clear day, all the way to Washington State. It was amazing, but I have never forgotten the conversation that took place on that ridge.

I said, gazing out over one of the most beautiful cities in the world, "look what Man has created." My friend Lisa replies, "yeah, but look what God created." Lisa was looking the other direction, over what looks like hundreds of miles of mountain peaks, all snow covered, and going back literally as far as you could see.

In the years I had worked with and known Lisa, she had never mentioned God. Other staff had often sought me out to discuss their personal views regarding faith and Jesus, mistakenly viewing me as a theological sounding board because I was a Bible School student. But not Lisa, until that very moment where she was unknowingly expressing one of the greatest truths found in scripture.

Creation Testifies About It's Creator

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands"(Psalm 19:1). It is impossible to live and breathe in this world without recognizing God. Just observing nature in itself is proof of that. Lisa's declaration of that truth, that one of the greatest witnesses to the reality that God is, is creation itself.

Another great proof that God is real is US.

Loving and Caring People speak to the existence of God

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

In Acts 10, there's the story of the Roman army officer named Cornelius who was described as “a devout, God-fearing man,” who “gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. His prayers and gifts to the poor were as an offering to God.”

The Apostle Paul in the book of Romans mentions a group of Christians who had “eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem” (Romans 15.25-26).

The early church held helping the poor as a core value. In fact, it was one of the greatest testimonies to the world all around them; visible evidence of a people of faith whose belief in God resulted in actions towards the neighbours that God has called them to love.

Jesus himself went so far as to say that how we treat those in need is how we treat Jesus himself. Jesus said, “I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

So how will they know that God is real??

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

 - Bill Nixon,  Director of Public Education, The Mustard Seed
@billbytheminute 

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