Beyond Blue

Beyond Blue

Believe Without Seeing

posted by Beyond Blue

All the Christmas movies–from the classic “Miracle on 34th Street” to “The Year Without a Santa Claus” preach a common message: faith is about believing without seeing.

In our family favorite, “Elf,” Santa’s sleigh, fueled by Christmas spirit, crashes into Central Park in New York City. In order to convince people to believe in Santa, young Michael (Daniel Tay) steals Santa’s logbook of Christmas wishes to show a news reporter.

“People believing after they’ve seen proof of me doesn’t count,” Santa explains. “Christmas spirit is about believing without seeing.”

Faith in Jesus operates the same way. In fact, the risen Christ tells Thomas the Twin (1 Peter 1:3-9) pretty much the same thing Santa told Michael: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

As a depressive, I have to believe. Even when I don’t see. When, like Thomas, I stretch out my hand to touch the side of Jesus but all I feel is more pain. I go on believing. Because my life depends on it.



You Might Also Like...
Previous Posts

6 Ways to Cope with Rejection
Your husband ditches you for a girl half his age after 23 years of marriage. The tenth job interview you’ve been on results in another ding letter. Your friends get together for a beer and don’t extend an invitation to you. We all endure rejection, but for us sensitive types, it can be devastati

posted 5:28:25pm Jun. 18, 2013 | read full post »

7 Ways to De-funk Yourself
The definition of FUNK: “to shrink from in fright or dread.” Oh yeah, and “a state of severe depression.” I like to think of it as the Diet Coke of depression … some of the same discomfort, symptoms, yuck, but also not the intense wrestling belonging to our friend, depression. When you’r

posted 4:57:05pm Jun. 05, 2013 | read full post »

How to Get Unstuck
Brain hiccups. We all get a case of them now and then. For some they are fleeting and all a person has to do is to take a deep breath, visualize their departure, and poof! They’re gone. Not so easy for the rest of us. If I counted up the moments I spent trying to escape the broken record of my tho

posted 4:51:05pm Jun. 05, 2013 | read full post »

Therapy Notes: Give Amy a Bottle
From my therapy notebook: I now know who to blame for my feelings of panic and anxiety … Amy. It’s all her fault. That’s what I call my amygdala, the delinquent cluster of neurons in the limbic system considered by most neurobiologists as the fear center of the human body, like the

posted 6:47:25am Apr. 25, 2013 | read full post »

8 Ways to Overcome Envy
I know that the fastest way to despair is by comparing one's insides with another's outsides, and that Max Ehrmann, the author of the classic poem "Desiderata," was absolutely correct when he said that if you compare yourself with others you become either vain or bitter, or, as Helen Keller put it:

posted 6:00:41am Apr. 23, 2013 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments read comments(1)
post a comment
sara love

posted December 26, 2006 at 11:22 am


Call Jesus to your side and invite the holy into your life. Jesus denies no one. His grace is all merciful and loving. With Jesus at your side, you will always feel him when you reach out. true heaven on earth is there for those who merely ask plainly and simply. God grants all things in his infinite wisdom.



report abuse
 

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.





Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.