Hook, Line And Sinker

John 20:29 “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”

Every once in a while, when fishermen get together to brag about their exploits, the fish they have caught and the big ones that got away, eventually they will talk about a fish that was so eager to take the bait that it swallowed everything, the hook, line and sinker. It probably ranks in belief with the size of the one that got away. Over time, this has taken on the identity of a cliché and refers to people who are quick to accept an opportunity or dream without truly investigating it. It points out their gullibility, their willingness to believe everything they have heard and not looking at it in a skeptical way to see if it really makes sense.

The opposite of this kind of person is referred to as a “doubting Thomas”, named for the Apostle Jesus was addressing when he made the above statement. That person accepts nothing at face value and wants proof prior to belief. In this case, Thomas did not believe his fellow apostles had seen the risen Jesus and said he wouldn’t believe Jesus had risen and had appeared to the others until he had seen and touched the wounds. This is, of course, the source of one more cliché: “Seeing is believing”.

Believing in God is not the easiest thing to do. We don’t have the advantages of the apostles and disciples who lived at the same time as Jesus. They got to see him and witness his miracles and hear his teachings first hand. Today, we have the accounts of all of that in the Bible. God does expect us to accept his word that Jesus did indeed walk this Earth, preaching salvation and being the Savior the prophets foretold.

Those of us who are Christians believe in the Triune God: the Father, Jesus Christ, his son, and the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God. As Christians, that is our belief, it is our faith. It is what we believe even though there is nothing to prove that fact using our physical senses. It is what we know. It defies logic and reason. As one Benedictine priest told us in high school, faith is the most illogical thing there is. Those on the outside looking in view us in a variety of ways, many of them uncomplimentary. What they don’t know and don’t understand, is we have accepted all of it. We have taken God into our lives hook, line and sinker, in other words, completely. There may be doctrinal differences between different denominations, but the bottom line is we believe, and more than that, we KNOW. We know that God exists and that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Being a Christian isn’t easy. It requires us to do something that is unnatural. It means accepting the existence of God and not being able to prove it, to touch it. Those who don’t believe in God are just waiting on the sidelines, watching to see how we live out our lives. They are waiting to see if we follow what we profess to believe or just give it lip service. Perhaps they will see us and become believers in Christ.

You are in the unique position of living your life in such a way that swallowing that hook, line and sinker as a complete believer may be the very thing that someone else needs to see in order to become a believer in God and to become a Christian. You are not naïve. You are not gullible. Will you continue to believe, or will you spit the hook out and turn your back on God’s truth?