Invisible God

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

When we say Christ is the foundation of the church can we see this foundation 1 Corinthians 3:11? We sing the hymn the church is one foundation with so much of fervor. Have we stopped to wonder what efforts we have taken to reconcile our differences between another denomination? Have we stopped to wonder whose sacrifice saves us all? From the time of Christs death and resurrection the Christian church has grown phenomenally. We cannot see Christ in bodily form, but we see the church that testifies to the fact that Christ is the immortal and invisible God of our faith. Faith, hope and love are unseen, but are the pillars on which the church stands today 2 Corinthians 4:18.

Sometimes we wonder how can we conceive of a God who is unseen? How can we have a conversation with an unknown God? How do we have a fruitful relationship with a God who is indiscernible? How did people grow spiritually in their relationship with God? Often these doubts creep into the lives of all believers. Although we cannot see God, we believe God can see everything. When we reflect on the lives of other Christians, all of them were not able to answer all the questions. But they over the years through bold steps of faith have journeyed through life with the knowledge of the love of God. Although they have no concrete proof of God's existence, their lives are an open book on the mysterious ways in which God molds their lives as a potter molds clay.

Weak and hypocritical we may feel, God still uses us if we are willing to be his vessels of mercy, love and peace. Philip Yancy says, "My own life of faith has included many surprises that no one warned me about. Of course, if the journey did not include a few potholes, dark stretches, and unexpected detours, we would hardly need faith." It is the uncertainties of life that draw us closer to this all knowing, all powerful and all seeing God 1 Timothy 1:17. None of us can say for sure what our life holds in store for us. We trust that whatever may happen to us, God will be there by our side. This is the confidence upon which we base our faith Philippians 1:6 . As each years roll by, we are more conscious of the fact that if we believe that God exists, we see his hand leading us when we need Him the most.

During a question-and-answer session with a half-dozen children in Vatican city, one boy told Pope Benedict XVI that he had been told that Christ was really present in the Eucharist, or Communion.

"But how? I don't see him," the boy said. Benedict chuckled.

"We don't see him, but there are so many things that we don't see that exist and they are essential," Benedict said. "For example, we don't see our reason, but we still have reason. We don't see our intelligence, but we have it. Â… We don't see the electric current, but we still see it works: We see how this microphone works, the lights.

"We don't see the risen Lord with our eyes, but we know that where Jesus is, men change, become better, become a bit more able to have peace and reconciliation.

Undoubtedly to see that God exists is to see God working in the lives of his disciples. The good Christian disciplines that we adopt make our spiritual life in God more real to us. To understand God we have to worship Him in Spirit and truth John 4:24. To make anything perfect is to keep practicing the Christian disciplines. The Bible and prayer helps us to build on the vision and mission for our lives. But when we do what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do, the word of God becomes ingrained into us. Thomas Kelly wrote in Testament of Devotion, Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place….It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Interestingly, he uses the Hebrew term Shekinah, which is the name for the presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple. If it was the intellectuals Jesus wanted he certainly made the wrong people his disciples. We must remember that the gospel message was entrusted in the hands of very ordinary people.

Mother Teresa was called to serve the dying, the disabled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, and the unloved. She said she saw these people as Christ in disguise. She was able to nurse and care for dying people who were abandoned by their family not because of her own ability but because she saw the image of Christ in them. Further she said she could not do it on her own unless the Spirit of Christ lived in her John 17:21. She made us look at the world through eyes of love. She cared for them not to convert them, but to show that God loved them and they were important to God. We all have our own gifts and abilities and when we discover them we use them to bring glory to God. We would be stunned and cringe at the sight of the people she laid her hands on.She had the mind of a servant of Christ Philippians 2:5-7.

There are some today who like the Pharisees love the approval and honor from their fellowmen. Did the Pharisees really have the love of God in them or a love for themselves? Were they not more concerned that when it came to Christ's ministry that He healed on the Sabbath or associated with sinners Matthew 9:10-13 ? They were more concerned or enamoured by the laws and not about the sinners. They were more carried away by the laws they knew and their ability to manipulate them to their advantage and to the detriment of their flock.

The kind of love that Christ portrayed was (Agape) selfless and unconditional. Did Christ make any demands on the 10 lepers He healed? How can we criticize Mother Teresa for not evangelizing when she was reaching out to people who have never been loved before? How do you touch the lives of people who have not had a kind word said to them in years? Do you really believe that it is our words that transforms another's life? To me it is the Spirit of Christ that brings about the transformation in all our lives. Although we cannot see Christ, He is working 1 Timothy 3:13. He works silently through our deeds and our words. He said if one or two are gathered in His name He is there. I do believe Christ was there when Mother Teresa cared for the needy. We are called to have the same mind, same Spirit and same purpose that was in Christ Jesus, who said it is the sick who need a physician not those who are healthy.

Christ did say that if we have seen Christ we have seen what God the Father is like. Thus in strong spiritual leaders we begin to see a reflection of what Christ is all about John 14:9 and John 12:45.


John 12:45

And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

John 14:9

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?


John 17:21

That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

1 Corinthians 3:11

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The ChurchÂ’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died.


Philippians 2:5-7

5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:18

While we look not at the 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.

John 4:24

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 1:18

No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

1 Timothy 3:13
Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 9:10-13

And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.