Luke 1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Both of these were letters from Luke to his friend Theophilus. The gospel of Luke was written first. That telling was an early letter rendering those things believed in the early church. Luke, not being an apostle of Christ had no firsthand knowledge of events but was relating those things which were commonly believed among the early believers. Information obtained from witnesses.

It is in Colossians and 2^nd Timothy that Paul list Luke as one of his companions and fellow worker in Christ. Luke’s role moved from a court reporter to a field reporter. As such the tenor and confidence of reporting moved into a new realm. He no longer listened to witnesses, he became a witness.

We all have heard some great witness stories about things others have seen, but it is when you have seen with your own eyes, the power of God amongst the living, that your report takes on a new, stronger and more faithful witness. You have become part of the story, just like a field reporter.

Study the intensity of Luke and compare it to Acts. There is a more sure witness feel to Acts. It has an excited state that lends the writing a zeal that I find missing in the gospel of Luke.

We change in the same way when we move from believing by faith into seeing by faith.

This too is a gift from God.

Exodus 4:11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

There is with us today a generation of people that refuse to believe God because they do not like seeing all the evil, danger, sickness, and injustice in the world. They base what little knowledge they have of God on a sense of fairness in their own eyes. How could a loving God do this? They even use verses like this to justify their belief.

How can an unbeliever use the Word of God to justify unbelief? The correct rendering of the Word comes from belief, not unbelief.

Psalm 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Blaming God is a presumptuous sin. It is born of unbelief, it is without faith. What happens to those in the world who see a God that curses is a blindness to the God of blessings.

Psalm 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

The eyes that look down upon everything refuse to look up.