I Saw the Sign

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!

“I’ll believe in God when science proves his existence.”

“I’ll believe in God if he can explain all the suffering and evil in the world.”

“I’ll believe when my prayers are answered the way I need them to be.”

“I’ll believe if Christians stop being hypocrites.”

“I’ll believe when following God doesn’t mean giving up what I enjoy.”

“I would believe in God if following him didn’t cost me so much.”

For some, taking a leap of faith is near impossible. They wait for all the planets to align while they strain to hear a booming voice from heaven. Then, when the planets remain scattered and no voice comes, they shrug their shoulders and say, “I guess God’s not real.” 

On the other hand, many are willing to recognize the existence of God, but won’t take that step in allowing their beliefs to inform the way they live. 

They may agree to the evidence that points to the validity of the Bible’s claims, but they reject the commands of the Bible that might require them to change in some way.

I, for one, lean towards the latter. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real and that the Bible is true. I don’t need the planets to confirm it (though they do!) And I don’t need a booming voice from heaven (though that would be awesome!).

I’m more of the variety of those who fight God on what he’s doing in my life. He keeps showing up and providing and sustaining but there’s always that one thing I’m still waiting on before I’m ready to fully surrender. Anyone else?

Regardless of which direction you tend to lean, I’m not saying anything new.

Here’s one example of what I’m describing found in the Gospel of John:

“Though he [Jesus] had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him… For they loved the glory that comes from people more than glory that comes from God.”

John 12:37, 43 ESV

Even with God in the flesh—Jesus walking among them, so many of his contemporaries—and religious leaders specifically—could not make sense of who Jesus was and what that meant for their expectations of God, or how God would show up in their lives.

The problem that most religious leaders grappled with as Jesus stirred the hearts and the imaginations of the people, had more to do with what they would have to give up if Jesus really was who he claimed to be. The Gospels describe how these religious leaders sure did love the seats of honor at a banquet, the way people greeted them in the public market, and claimed the best seats in the synagogue. They loved to be called “rabbi” by the people. A term reserved for only the most outstanding teachers of the law. (Matthew 23:6-7)

The irony is that though they knew the law—what we have as the Old Testament today—they couldn’t reconcile what they understood about the Scriptures with what they saw Jesus doing. Everything about Jesus’ life pointed back to the prophecies they had memorized about the Messiah. But the veil over their eyes prevented them from seeing it. 

They believed in every single miracle performed by Moses and the Prophets,  and yet witnessing the signs that Jesus performed in front of their very eyes was not enough to bring them to surrender. In fact, his miracles enraged them because of his popularity with the people that ensued.  

Stumbling Block or Power? Foolishness or Wisdom?

There’s a passage in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth where he describes how different groups of his day were interpreting the crucifixion. The most prominent groups at the time were the Jews and the Greeks, known also as the Gentiles—anyone who wasn’t Jewish.

Paul says this:

“For Jews demand signs and Gentiles seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:22-24

So you see, when these groups were confronted with what followers of Jesus claimed about the saving power of the cross, they either saw it as scandalous or just plain stupid. 

Before we judge them with our chronological snobbery, let’s remember, we are exactly like this!

They brought all their “stuff” into their understanding and interpretation, and so do we. Whether you can see it or not, your background, religious affiliation, experiences, family of origin, and time in history informs your understanding of Jesus and your beliefs as a result.

Paul continues to explain in his same letter to the Corinthians that people who are not spiritual cannot receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they cannot understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things. (1 Corinthians 2:14-15)

And this is where faith and surrender play such critical roles in our lives.

Your eyes can see all kinds of signs and wonders and miracles. But without the eyes of faith to believe, you cannot possibly step past your own hang-ups and reservations over them.

The Faith to Disbelieve

Something we don’t tend to acknowledge is that although faith is required to believe, it also takes faith to disbelieve. And this is what is so tragic for so many: They keep a tight grasp on their refusal to surrender to God when really they are clutching onto the other side of the same coin.

Science cannot prove that God exists. But science cannot prove he does not exist either. Both require an element of faith. So friend, don’t be afraid to doubt your doubts. 

Sometimes our lack of belief has more to do with what we are not willing to give up, than with what we are invited into. 

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he describes what will eventually come for those who are lovers of self and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. He says that they are always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7)

The more I write, the more heartbroken I become at the thought of it. That so many people have a hunger to understand, to learn, to know, to grow. But they miss it. They miss it because they’ve made themselves the king of their castle, the lord of their lives, the savior of their souls. And they miss it. They miss the truth and never see why. 

But there’s something freeing in knowing I don’t have to save myself, isn’t there? See, the core of what Jesus tells us is this: I didn’t come to show you how you must save yourself - that is every other religion or self-help claim. 

I came to do it for you. Admitting you cannot help yourself or save yourself is your first step to freedom. 

Are you witnessing God’s signs and miracles in his beautiful world and in your beautiful life, but missing him altogether? Are you enjoying the gifts of God and missing the gift that he himself is meant to be for you? 

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)

A popular quote frequently attributed to Tony Evans that says this:“Those who leave everything in God's hands will eventually see God's hand in everything.”

There is a relational quality to God that is fundamental to who he is and this relational quality requires we move past acknowledgement to relationship. To move past an acknowledgement that God exists to actually desiring relationship with him rather than merely admiring his handiwork.

To move from acknowledgement to relationship requires two steps: a reorientation of the intellect and a reformation of the will.

• The intellect must be engaged. Not to supply a final proof that silences every question, but to remove intellectual obstacles that masquerade as reasons for staying distant.

• The will must be reformed. Not by vague moral pressure, but by concrete acts that recondition the heart to trust another more than itself.

Jeremiah 17:9 says,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

This verse always comes to mind when people say things like, “trust your gut”, or “follow your heart”.

Frankly, this is terrible advice.

My heart doesn’t want to risk being hurt, or do hard things, or sacrifice for another. But I don’t have all the information. I don’t know what the best course of action could be with my limited knowledge and gut feelings. I need to surrender that. I need to trust the One who does. The One who sees all and knows all and knows what is best for my eternal good and his glory.

This is not sentimentalism. It is a sober, disciplined apprenticeship to a different centre. Scripture is clear that God is not an item of belief you add to a list of things you accept. He is an active agent, not just in our world hypothetically, but in your life specifically. And as an active agent he claims to reorder what you love.

The question is not only “Do you believe that God exists?” but “Who or what are you arranging your life around?”

That rearrangement will always cost something. It might be time, pride, comfort, self-sufficiency. That cost manifests differently for each of us. And that cost is precisely what reveals whether your affirmation of God is an abstract assent or a real allegiance and surrender.

If you are honest, there are probably parts of your life you implicitly defend as non-negotiable. I challenge you to name them. It has been not only helpful, but liberating for me to go through that practice.

See, friend, the refusal to let those things be examined betrays a certain sovereignty you have assumed for yourself. The idea that I am the master of my domain. The king of my castle.

And that sovereignty explains why some of us who recognize the signs of God still decline to follow him: the cost appears to be higher than the prize. Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us there. Through the Gospel, Jesus calls that calculation into question by offering a prize that redefines the very notion of ‘cost’. 

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

Matthew 16:25

The Amplified Bible translation says this in John 10:10, “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].”

Consider what is possible on a practical level when you choose relationship over mere recognition. When you choose to truly surrender rather than live in a state of skepticism.

Your time is reordered: prayer becomes an ongoing posture not an item on a religious checklist. Your decisions are entirely reframed: generosity and humility become the signposts of your interactions, rather than the reactionary self-preserving chaos that used to inform your worldview. Even your self-perception can shift: you stop wearing competence as a mask to perform in, and begin to confess dependence as a lifestyle, not a liability.

These are small, quiet transformations. They are rarely dramatic, overnight reversals, rather they are more often a slow reshaping of appetite. They force us to not just recognize the signs of God we encounter as we travel, but to heed those signs and receive them as God’s love language that informs the way we actually live as we journey along. 

What Are My Next Steps?

Metaphors and imagery will only take us so far. Here are two practical steps that can help us move from belief-as-idea to belief-as-life.

1. Reflective Prayer: 10-minute ‘Examen of Affections’

   
   

   Each evening for 10 minutes ask: What did I love today? Where did I reach for control instead of prayer? Where did I notice God’s nearness? Try writing one sentence for each. (Bonus: do this 21 days and see what patterns begin to emerge!)

   
   

2. Scripture Reading: Return to the Text

   
   

   Read a single short passage from the Gospels each morning (5–10 minutes), then ask: “If this claim is true, what is one concrete thing I must do today?” Choose the thing and do it.

Wherever you decide to go with it, remember this: Faith does not abolish doubt; it gently reassigns it. Doubt becomes a question to be held before God rather than a fortress from which to rule your life. Because that fortress is really a prison that’s locked from the inside. There’s freedom in stepping out and being comfortable knowing you may still doubt. And you may not have all the answers but you know the One who does.

And when that reorientation begins by a small practice, a disciplined reading, or a small step of surrender, then the things you love begin to reorient in the right direction, too.

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. This week is a little different because truthfully, I couldn’t help but name this episode after the Ace of Base song titled, The Sign. I have very fond memories as a 10-year-old in the ‘90s playing the cassette on repeat with friends during free time in our music class at Emmanuel Christian School. It’s been on loop in my head as I’ve been writing and now I gift it to you. 

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!