“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2Corinthians 4:18)
There are things that are “seen” and things that are “not seen.” The things seen that Paul refers to are what we see with our natural eyes. This sight is important for living in this world. There are some who lack this sight who must rely on other natural senses such as sound and touch in order to live in this natural world. Paul states that these things which are seen are temporal. He is making a statement about the future of this world as revealed in God’s Word.
The things that are not seen are eternal. They are in the realm of the spirit, in God’s realm. We cannot see eternal things with our natural eyes. These are the things we must see with the eyes of hope and faith, spiritual eyes. “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” (2Corinthians 5:7) This is how a child of God should live, believing God and seeing with faith that God will do what He said He would do, that God is faithful and will not fail. And what is faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
The Christian life is a life of hope, hope in every situation and hope for every circumstance. As long as God is on the Throne, we have hope, hope for help, hope for goodness, hope for a future, hope for ourselves and our families. It is a sad and tragic thing to be hopeless, to think that there is no help and no change for the better. Hopelessness is the devil’s lie. Many have believed the lie and end their lives because of hopelessness. With God, there is always hope.
We are saved by hope and believe in salvation by grace in faith. We don’t see it yet but hope in it and believe in it by faith. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” (Romans 8:24) Peter also wrote about the hope in our salvation. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1Peter 1:3)
God wants us to have hope. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) The word that has been translated expected in this Bible version means hopeful. The Lord wants our lives to be full of hope for the future in this world and in the next also. Paul reminds us of all the great heroes of the Old Testament who hoped in God’s help and did great things. They hoped in God and had faith in Him to do miraculously what was required and necessary in chapter 11 of Hebrews. We have a surer hope in Jesus. We have been reborn of God and have the Holy Spirit in us reassuring us of this hope, so that we know that we know. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” (Romans 8:16)
We believe God and have hope that He will finish what He started in us. He gave us life. Our desire now is to please Him Who loved us and saved us. We want to do good, but yet we struggle to be obedient in some things. The flesh rises up and before we know it, we’ve sinned. Paul had the same experience. “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” (Romans 7:15) Our flesh is not redeemed. Only our spirits have been redeemed. We are still in this flesh and live in this world of sin. This is a struggle between our flesh and our spirit. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17) The flesh is of this world, earthy and sinful and leading to destruction. The spirit is in direct communication with the Holy Spirit and the Godhead through Him Who lives in us. Remember the Godhead is always united, in agreement and are One. So, whatever the Holy Spirit says, guides us to, leads us into is approved and is in full agreement by the Father and Son.
The good thing about exposed sin is that we come to the realization that it’s present in us. We can deal with it, not that in our own strength we can avoid it or conquer it. But we must surrender it by confessing it, asking forgiveness and asking the Holy Spirit to remove it. We make a decision not to do it again with the help of the Holy Spirit. We give Him permission to stop us in our tracks if we are going that way. We ask Him to make us more like Jesus. Is it easy? Definitely not! Is it doable? Definitely yes! The Lord will do it. He has promised us. And we hope in this process. And have faith that the Lord will do it. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
Comments