What
Is It You See?
“So we do
not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).
What
is our focus in life? It may not be something we’ve written down, like a New
Year’s resolution, or even a conscious thought we have as we go about our daily
activities, but we do have a reason for what it is we choose to do. Whether it’s
something that gives us pleasure in thinking about or doing, or provides for a
need, or comes from our fears, or whatever it is, we all have motives that
guide our lives. Paul did as well, and he expressed his focus is that which is
unseen, the spiritual, the eternal. It really is hard thinking about what
Scripture reveals to us about Paul, and not see him driven when it comes to
eternity.
This
passage isn’t the only time Paul expressed how that which is spiritual, the
unseen, the eternal, was his focus in life. In Eph. 6:12, he spoke of how we
face a spiritual battle against the forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places. In Phil. 1:21 he said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is
gain.” In Col. 3:1-4 he wrote, “If then you have
been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not
on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear
with him in glory.” He reminds us what happens when the
Lord returns to take us home with Him (1 Thess. 4:13-18), and in 2 Thess. 1:10
how Christ “comes to be
glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have
believed.” Of course,
near his death, he comforted Timothy by reminding him, “The
Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His
heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen”
(2 Tim. 4:18).
While we have examined some of Paul’s
thoughts of his focus on eternity, we could add what the Lord Himself said in the
gospels, as well as the Hebrew writer, James, Peter, John, and Jude. Indeed,
the whole focus of Scripture is to get us to focus on the unseen. While we live
in the flesh today, we must keep uppermost in our thoughts how we live
today impacts where we will live afterwards. As Scripture considers it
serious to live life from a spiritual perspective, so should we. We must think
and live eternally. “Therefore,
whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be
repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:9-10).
As
you start each new day, be mindful of eternity. As you go through the events of
each day, be mindful of eternity. When you end your day, be mindful of
eternity. Why? Because one day the flesh will fail, and we will pass into the
spiritual realm, to be judged either for eternal life or eternal condemnation. If
living for the spiritual, for the unseen, eternal life, is not your focus
today, it will not be what awaits you in eternity. Do you live for what you
see, or what is unseen? “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a
mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor.
3:18). Think and live eternally.
μαράνα θᾶ
Robert
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