Sitting in the eye doctor’s office this past week, I noticed a poster with the caption, Seeing is Believing. I smiled and thought how appropriate, given whose office I was sitting in. The following day I was waiting for my appointment at the chiropractor’s office and read another poster: Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. Not sure how those words related to my chiropractic care, but they resonated with me simply because the weekend following Thanksgiving I will be speaking at a ladies retreat and my theme for my two sessions is choice. Life IS all about choice!
These chance encounters with quotes caused me to wonder how many times we unconsciously use quotes in our day-to-day conversations, expressions like, Raining cats and dogs. [No one knows the precise source of this 17th century expression, but we can be sure that it didn’t originate because animals fell from the sky! What was in the mind of whoever coined this expression is now lost to us.] How about, If pigs could fly, or Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!
With my curiosity aroused, I began to do a bit of research to see how many expressions or quotes we use, or at least are familiar with that come from the Bible! I quickly discovered that there are so many that space would not allow me to list them, so I chose just a few.
• A leopard cannot change its spots. Meaning: the notion that things cannot change their innate nature. Source: Jeremiah 13:23 (KJV), “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?”
• A drop in the bucket. Meaning: a very small proportion of the whole. Source: Isaiah 40:15 (NIV), “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.”
• A fly in the ointment. Meaning: a small but irritating flaw that spoils the whole. [Ointment was used for anointing in biblical days and since there is considerable anointing in the Bible, it isn’t surprising that this phrase has a biblical origin.] Source: Ecclesiastes 10:1 (NIV), “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour.”
• A man after my own heart. Meaning: a kindred spirit, someone I can agree with. Source: Acts 13:22 (NIV),“After removing Saul, he [God] made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”
• As old as the hills. Meaning is obvious: Exceedingly old! [This is close to my heart since I have a birthday in a couple of days!] and the meaning is implied in Job 15:7, “Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?“
• Pearls before swine. Meaning: items of quality offered to those who aren’t cultured enough to appreciate them. Source: Matthew 7:6 (NIV) “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
• Out of the mouths of babes. Meaning: when a child says something that surprises you because it seems very wise. Source: Psalms 8:2, “Through the praise of children and infants (babes and sucklings) you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
As mentioned earlier, the list is quite lengthy, but these are just a few to whet your appetite and perhaps pursue it further on your own.
But for the moment, I’d like to go back to the first one I mentioned, the one I saw in my eye doctor’s office: Seeing is believing. It’s no surprise—given the previous few quotes—to discover that this quote has a direct link to the Bible. And interesting enough, on the occasion I saw it, it had been adapted to facilitate the advertisement of glasses!
To expand on the meaning, I searched out what the renown American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Protestant theologian of the 1700s had to say. Jonathan Edwards writes:
‘Tis a greater blessedness to have spiritual communion with God and to have a saving relationship with him by the instances of his Spirit and by the exercise of true devotion than it is to converse with God externally, to see the visible representation and manifestations of his presence and glory, and to hear his voice with the bodily ears as Moses did [emphasis mine].
Edwards goes on further to explain:
“For in this spiritual relationship the soul is nigh unto and hath more a particular portion than in any external relationship…. ‘Tis more blessed to be spiritually related to Jesus Christ — to be his disciples, his brethren and the members — than to stand in the nearest temporal relation, than to be his brother or his mother.”
John Piper interpreted this to mean that we who know Jesus spiritually [having not seen Him] are more blessed than those who knew him “externally” [having seen Him]. It’s better to be united to Him by faith than to have actually seen Him with our eyes, heard Him with our ears, or touched Him with our hands.
Simply put, it’s easy to believe in something when you’ve seen it and, thus, be blessed. But there’s another side to seeing is believing. When it comes to faith in Christ, Christ Himself said that believing without seeing [Him] provides a greater blessing.
“Jesus said, ‘Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me?
The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!’” John 20:29
(Contemporary English Version)
Have a good day!
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