"So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT
Sometimes, we can look at something, form an opinion and walk away believing that what you've just seen is set in stone. We can believe that something is happening when it isn't, so, when we go looking it is as we think it is. We see what isn't there because we think it is there and happening. To a degree, we are acting on faith, but, this is the wrong side of faith - we see what we believe we want to see.
The opposite side of this verse - the way Paul meant it to be, is similar but, it is the truth. Here, what we see may be trouble and heartache but, when we look through the eyes of Spiritual faith, we can see the deeper meaning. To give an example, we can't see heaven and our eternal home but, we know it's there, we believe it and we know without doubt, that we will one day see it in reality. When a person receives healing for a particular ailment, we may not always see that healing accomplished but, we believe and see the healing through our eyes of faith.
Warren W Wiersbe writes: 'How can you look at things that are invisible? By faith, when you read the Word of God. We have never seem Christ or heaven, yet we know they are real because the Word of God tells us so. The Wiersbe Study Bible, Warren W Wiersbe
Tony Evans writes: 'If your tribulations seem long and heavy, you're looking at the wrong thing. To put it another way, if all you see is what you see, then you do not see all there is to be seen. Paul is not saying we must close our eyes to the reality of our suffering; he's saying we need to open our eyes by faith to unseen realities that will last forever.'
Watch this - if you can believe what you feel is happening in your life, e.g. you suspect that someone is doing things behind your back then, you can certainly believe what Paul is saying here. As Christians, we are faith people - everything is by faith. Therefore, when we pray for an issue, we may not see any improvement straightaway, but we continue to look through the eyes of faith as if that issue is being resolved: 'Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen' Hebrews 11:1. There is a certainty in the Christian way, but our thoughts and suspicions may have no real substance. Do you get that.
So pick up the shield of faith and start living this way from now on. You may look around and only see devastation, but when you look through the eyes of faith, you can see victory. And this is the way God wants you to be in your Daily Life with Jesus.
Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.
dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com
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