Going beyond the Visible
When a man expresses his faith in God but fails to see Him, when he believes in God but fails to realize the profundity of the godhead, when he fails to rise above his tangible world, this shows that he has failed to make God the centre of his attention.
People generally talk about community problems or, at best, discuss the superficial aspects of religion; no one seems interested in its meaningful aspects. It may be because only visible objects attract man’s attention, not only now, but it has been so in the past and continues to be so in the present. It is difficult for a man to direct his attention toward the invisible.
Man makes the visible things his deities. He fails to understand how things that cannot be seen with the naked eye can be the focus of human attention. He becomes involved with whatever can be seen and comprehended externally, but he does not know how to concern himself with things that are unseen. He well understands the importance of whatever presents itself before him in a perceptible form, but he ignores anything which he cannot perceive.
This worship of natural phenomena, which finds its final, extreme expression in the form of polytheism, is a man’s greatest weakness. A consequence of this weakness is apparent in man’s inability to progress in his faith.
A polytheist associates the godhead with particular visible objects, along with believing in the one unseen God. On the other hand, an atheist directly rejects the existence of God because he cannot see Him. These are extreme types of religious backsliding.
However, another aspect of the matter is equally important to discuss from the point of view of its consequences, that is, the ineffectiveness of faith despite its acceptance. It happens when a man expresses his faith in God but fails to see Him, he believes in God but fails to realize the profundity of the Godhead. He is a devotee of God but fails to rise above his tangible world to make God the centre of his attention.
Not apprehending the unseen God amounts to a failure to find the hidden significance of His existence. Many people are prepared to revere the possessors of material wealth while ignoring the Almighty, rich in spiritual treasures. Those who ignore God this way are finally the losers in spiritual meaningfulness.
