"while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV)
There have been several times where I was with someone looking at a historic site or some natural wonder. Sometimes, the other person would direct my attention to a specific thing in the direction we were looking and say, “Do you see it?” hoping that I too noticed the thing they were pointing out. At first, I still did not really see the thing that they were trying to show me. Then, once I did eventually see it, it was easy to see it, whereas before I could not seem to pick that thing out from the rest of the scenery.
In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul gives us an unusual statement, “we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen”. That sounds strange, because how can you look at something you cannot see? Paul is not talking about natural things here, Paul is referring to spiritual things, spiritual truth. While it is true that there are natural things around us, we want to look past the natural to the spiritual. We don’t’ want to focus our attention on what we see in the natural world, we want to keep our attention on spiritual things.
Spiritual truth can change natural facts. The natural fact may be that your body has a problem, the spiritual truth is that Jesus paid for our healing on the cross (Isaiah 53:5). The natural fact may be that we have a financial challenge, but the spiritual truth is that God will supply whatever we need (Philippians 4:19). The natural fact is that we may not know at the moment what we need to do, but God said He will give us wisdom when we need it (James 1:5). Rather than just acknowledge the natural fact, we need to keep our focus on the spiritual truth; can you see it?
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV)
There have been several times where I was with someone looking at a historic site or some natural wonder. Sometimes, the other person would direct my attention to a specific thing in the direction we were looking and say, “Do you see it?” hoping that I too noticed the thing they were pointing out. At first, I still did not really see the thing that they were trying to show me. Then, once I did eventually see it, it was easy to see it, whereas before I could not seem to pick that thing out from the rest of the scenery.
In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul gives us an unusual statement, “we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen”. That sounds strange, because how can you look at something you cannot see? Paul is not talking about natural things here, Paul is referring to spiritual things, spiritual truth. While it is true that there are natural things around us, we want to look past the natural to the spiritual. We don’t’ want to focus our attention on what we see in the natural world, we want to keep our attention on spiritual things.
Spiritual truth can change natural facts. The natural fact may be that your body has a problem, the spiritual truth is that Jesus paid for our healing on the cross (Isaiah 53:5). The natural fact may be that we have a financial challenge, but the spiritual truth is that God will supply whatever we need (Philippians 4:19). The natural fact is that we may not know at the moment what we need to do, but God said He will give us wisdom when we need it (James 1:5). Rather than just acknowledge the natural fact, we need to keep our focus on the spiritual truth; can you see it?
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