Last year, Dulles Airport hosted a microphotography exhibit that focused on cell imagery that was magnified 50,000 times the normal size. These wall-sized images included everything from the individual hairs that sense movement in the inner ear, to cross-sections of the brain’s movement sensors. The exhibit provided a rare and beautiful glimpse into an unseen world, and it reminded me of an integral part of our daily lives as Christians: faith.

In Hebrews, we’re told that, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, KJV). Just like those pictures, faith indicates our response to a reality that isn’t always directly experienced by our five senses. Faith comes by hearing about the reality of God and, by the Spirit, results in a conviction of its truth. Hearing about God’s nature and character as demonstrated in Jesus Christ invites us to place our trust in him and to rely on his promises, even if we haven’t yet seen them all come to fruition. By faith in God and his Word to us, love for him is made visible. We become reminders one to another of the hope we have in God’s ultimate rule and reign that will overcome evil with good, wipe away every tear and make everything right.

As much as we might know that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, we also know that this day hasn’t arrived just yet. None of us has seen God’s coming kingdom. So in the meantime, God asks for our faith: faith or trust in his promises, in his goodness, in his justice and in his love for us as his children. It’s by faith that we obey him, and thus, it’s by faith that we can make the “unseen” kingdom of God, seen.

By trusting God’s promises and putting Christ’s teachings into action through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, we can become living signs of God’s coming rule and reign here and now – simply by what we do, what we say, and how we love those around us.

I’m Joseph Tkach, Speaking of LIFE.