Defining moments occur when you come face to face with a new or old truth. Suddenly you see something in a new way, you embrace that truth, and your life is radically changed. Your whole perspective, your lifestyle, your attitude, your view of God and relationships are transformed and you experience a defining moment.

It happened a few weeks ago when I was down at the courthouse offering support to a family. I was in the lobby when a woman burst out of the courtroom, extremely upset. I went on into the courtroom, sat down and overheard one of the attorneys questioning why the lady outside was so upset. So she went outside to check on the lady. A few moments later the crying and screaming ended abruptly. When the attorney returned to the courtroom, I overheard her say that the woman had misunderstood the verdict given by the judge. That woman had a defining moment when she came face to face with the truth and her life changed.

When Jesus came to earth, he explained the truth about God, and about us, in order to counter our false beliefs. His truth was like a blinding light—shocking, radical, hard to understand, anti-cultural, uncomfortable, and seemingly impractical. People could run from the truth and hide in the shadows, or they could live in—abide in—stand in that truth long enough to allow that truth to penetrate their hearts and minds and be set free from their lies, fears, guilt, and sinful habits.

In the Bible, a young blind man is confronted with a truth that we all struggle with—you don’t have to understand everything to believe in something or someone. There are so many things that happen that are unexplainable, yet they are undeniable and real. I still don’t understand my 8-year-old niece dying of leukemia. I can’t make sense out of the timing and events of my dad’s death. I can’t explain the troubles and problems I’ve had to experience in my life--let alone try to explain the marital and spiritual meltdowns among my friends. Sadly, many of us walk away from our relationship with God because we live in the unexplainable web of doubt about God’s activity in our lives.

The young blind man in the Bible chose to embrace the unexplainable and celebrate the undeniable. He was born blind. In that day when someone was born with an infirmity or disability it was assumed that either the person had sinned in the womb or his parents had been naughty. But Jesus declared that assumption false and in this man’s case the blindness occurred so that the work of God might be displayed. Then Jesus healed the blind man with mud cakes. What an unexplainable, yet undeniable miracle!

The response to this miracle is mind-boggling. Rather than the blind man hitting all the late night talk shows, Jesus becomes the center of attention and the villain who must be discredited. The beggar goes home and an argument ensues among his neighbors. John 9:8-10 says, His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, "Is this the same man – that beggar?" Some said he was, and others said, "No, but he surely looks like him!" And the beggar kept saying, "I am the same man!" They asked, "Who healed you? What happened?"

All of a sudden, everyone is focusing on the unexplainable: How? What? When? Where? - But the formerly blind man is trying to celebrate the undeniable fact that he can see: "Let’s party! Someone go to the grocery store and buy a cake and some Dr. Pepper." None of the neighbors are saying, "God is so good! I’d like to meet this Jesus. Let’s celebrate the undeniable miracle of sight."

It didn’t end there. The religious leaders also questioned the unexplainable, yet undeniable miracle. John 9:13-16 says, Then they took the man to the Pharisees. Now as it happened, Jesus had healed the man on a Sabbath. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, "He smoothed the mud over my eyes, and when it was washed away, I could see!" Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath." Others said, "But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?" So there was a deep division of opinion among them.

All the blind man wanted was a parade, a party to celebrate the miracle of sight. But all the religious leaders wanted was to discredit Jesus and his claim to be from God. What a bunch of narrow-minded, ego-centered leaders who couldn’t explain this miraculous event because their view of God didn’t fit their categories of what Jesus was like, how He acts, what He does and thinks. Their God didn’t do those kinds of things. So they tried to discredit this undeniable miracle.

When the religious leaders didn’t get any satisfaction from the young man, they called in his parents. John 9:18-21 says, The Jewish leaders wouldn't believe he had been blind, so they called in his parents. They asked them, "Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he see?" His parents replied, "We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. He is old enough to speak for himself. Ask him.

I’m thinking the parents probably wanted to celebrate with their son—kill the fatted calf and have a barbeque with friends and family. Why waste our time wrestling with the unexplainable? Let’s party!

So when the religious leaders don’t get any satisfaction from the parents, they returned to re-interrogate the young man about the miracle. They won’t let it go. The man didn’t know and probably didn’t care if Jesus was the Messiah, a prophet or just some sinner. He didn’t know all the Sabbath rules or how mud can make a blind person see, but there was one thing he did know, one undeniable true thing in the midst of the unexplainable. He told the religious leaders in John 9:25: "I was blind, and now I see." With that, the unbelieving religious leaders cursed the man and threw him out of the synagogue, making him a social outcast. No parade. No cake. No party. Sadly, the "unexplainables" kept the religious leaders from honoring the miracle-worker, Jesus, and celebrating the undeniable miracle.

John 9:35-38 says, When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man answered, "Who is he, sir, because I would like to." "You have seen him," Jesus said, "and he is speaking to you!" "Yes, Lord," the man said, "I believe!" And he worshiped Jesus. Notice that the man didn’t seek more evidence or ask more questions about Jesus or the miracle. He believed in the unexplainable, undeniable miracle-worker, named Jesus.

You see, the man came face to face with the truth. Here’s the truth that can set you free: You don’t have to understand everything to believe in something or someone. It would be easy for us to slam the neighbors, religious leaders and others for their doubt and lack of faith in Jesus. But I’m embarrassed to say that I land far too many times on their side by doubting and questioning God’s unexplainable activities in my life. My doubt gets ignited when I get laser focused on the pieces that are missing—on the stuff that doesn’t make sense. I start questioning God—"Why didn’t you? Couldn’t you have? How come you didn’t? Why this timing?" Now multiply this by other unexplainable circumstances and missing pieces and over time I start losing my faith and confidence in God.

When God doesn’t make sense my faith in him begins to shrink. When I’m so tightly focused on what’s missing from the picture of my life, I can’t see the big picture. It makes no sense. There’s no logic to it. But from a distance, you can see the big picture even if a piece or two is missing. When I shift my focus from what is unexplainable to what is undeniable about God, my faith soars even in the face of all my unanswered questions and mysteries about our great God.

Here are some undeniable truths about God—He’s the creator. He is holy, just and loving. He wants an intimate relationship with us. He has plans for us. He gives us the power to break free from the lies we believe. He wants to spend an eternity with us.

There is also the undeniable truth about us. It’s this. There is an unquenchable thirst for purpose and meaning in all of us that cannot be quenched by stuff, success, relationships, good deeds, pleasure, religion, money or power. This thirst is only quenched when we become connected relationally to God by putting our trust in Jesus as our Savior who paid the penalty for our sins by dying on a cross.

It’s okay to ask your questions and do your investigation about Christianity. But you will never have all the pieces or all the answers about God. Your knowledge is not infinite. Ultimately, you will need to focus on God’s "undeniables," not the "unexplainables" and place your trust in Jesus as your Savior. Will you do that today?

For those of you who are Christ followers, (you’ve crossed the line of faith) there will always be those "unexplainables" about God, but if you will give God the opportunity--over time He may give you some of the missing pieces or answers to some of your troubling questions. He may give you insight into the "unexplainables." Remember, you don’t have to understand everything in order to believe in something or someone. There will always be missing pieces that are unexplainable, but there is so much more that is undeniable about God that we can hang onto.