Though you have not seen him, you love him.  (ESV)

Though you have not seen him, you love him; (NIV)

As kids, many of us had imaginary friends or even believed in Santa Claus.

As we got older, we began to call these things childish. We found out that imaginary friends were just that: imaginary, stuffed animals were just filled with stuffing, and Santa Claus never existed. And slowly, without realizing it, most people begin to assume that all unseen things must be pretend, and even faith and hope, to many, get lumped in with childhood fantasies.

From our very beginning, we were longing for more than what we could see. And although the objects of our belief weren’t real, maybe the desires behind them were…

Imaginary friends: “I want someone who’s always with me.”
Believing in Santa: “I want someone who knows me and gives good gifts.”

These ultimately came up short and proved to be fake. But the desires were real shadows of the real substance: Christ.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.” If we desire an unseen, perfect love, maybe it’s because we were made for it. 

Our imaginations as kids weren’t just childish; they were shadows of the childlike faith Christ asks for—a faith that trusts what it cannot see, but is more real than anything it can–because not everything real is visible..and that which is most real isn’t visible at all. 

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 

Childlike faith isn’t believing in imaginary things — it’s taking that same trusting, longing heart and placing it in what is real and eternal, even when we can’t see it. 

Our hearts were made to love Someone we can’t yet see, not a myth, but a living Savior—the One who’s always with us, who knows us, and gives good gifts.

Written by Blake Stanley