The greatest of human arts cannot compete with the theater of nature. No human artist has ever been able to top the beauty of a flower. No human-made scent can outdo the fresh smell of a forest in the spring. A skyscraper looks merely mechanical when compared with a mighty oak tree. God’s multi-sensory handiwork surrounds us.
Now look at humanity. Does any other creature possess the ingenuity and plasticity of the human mind? Can an ant take apart genetic material and put it back together to make a vaccine? Can an aardvark explore, learn, imagine, dream, and envision a future and make that vision a reality like human’s can? God stamped his image on humanity in a way he did not with any other creature.
People often ask for a sign to show them God exists. But look around, the signs are everywhere.
The Jews of Jesus’ day asked him for a sign to validate that he was who he said he was (Luke 11:29). How obstinate could they have been? He has surrounded us with signs through all the years of our existence. If that were not enough, he cast out demons, calmed storms, turned water into wine, and healed the sick. Yet, still they had the nerve to ask for another.
He responded that the only sign they would receive would be the sign of Jonah. Jonah was an Israelite prophet sent to preach against the wicked city of Nineveh. Jonah did not want to go, but, when God compelled him, the Ninevites repented and believed. People keep asking for a sign, but unless a person repents and believes even the wicked people of Nineveh will stand at the judgement against their obstinance. (Luke 11:29-32)
The late teacher and theologian R.C. Sproul once said: “…unbelief is not an intellectual problem. It is not because there is as paucity of evidence, or that God has not made himself clear: the problem is a moral problem. We don’t want to believe, because we know that if we acknowledge that God-ness of God and the deity of Christ, that means that we must repent, and therein lies our pain and resistance. In spite of a world filled with the light of the majesty of God we shut our eyes and [remain] in darkness.”
Jesus stands before you with arms wide open. Will you open up your eyes to him?