“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 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.”
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
In context, today’s verse passage encourages us to think beyond our present distress to the future when Christ’s redeemed will enjoy the same resurrection to glory as the Lord did (2 Corinthians 4:14, cf 1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2). Body, soul, and spirit, we will be made fit for citizenship in the promised new heavens and earth wherein dwells righteousness forever. “If ye then be risen with Christ,” wrote Paul to believers everywhere, “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). Again we are encouraged to set our attention on things we cannot yet see; “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). This does not mean that our five senses are incapable of revealing the physical world around us properly. After all, these faculties were created by God for that purpose (Psalm 94:9; Proverbs 20:12). The problem is not in how we see but in how we perceive. Like the man whose sight was restored, we often perceive others incorrectly (Mark 8:22-25). In our case, it is our failure to contemplate the unseen, invisible things, that leads to the error. In the church for instance, we see infants, toddlers and little children running around. What we often don’t perceive is the potential that God has placed within His tiny image-bearers, or the good works He has prepared before hand that they should walk in. Seemingly small and insignificant to us, God declares the little ones to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 10:14-15; Matthew 18:2-5). Similarly, when we see the aged in the church, we have a tendency to forget that these folks did not suddenly appear on the earth with wrinkles and gray hair. They have life histories, invisible to us, but known to God. Their experiences, their mistakes and failures, successes and victories, were all used by God to bring them to where they are. The aged who have been faithfully walking with God and growing in grace may seem frail and weak on outward inspection, however, in the spiritual realm, they wear the armor of God and march into battle like superheroes. By far the greatest unseen reality is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). May God help us to perceive all things correctly, even until the day when faith gives way to sight.
God bless and encourage you today dear saints,
Pastor John
English