The Unseen

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
"We live by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 4:18&5:7

We have five natural senses; sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. It is interesting that the Bible regularly teaches about each one of these senses as ways to be used in our relationship with God. We are to see him in his glory. We are to hear his still, small voice. We are to smell the fragrance of God. We are to seek him until we touch him. We are to taste and see that the Lord is good. All these natural senses are used to receive supernatural blessing.
    Today, we are going to talk about only one, sight. We are used to using our eyes to see earthly things. We see pain, suffering, struggle, sin, and injustice. But God wants us to use our eyes to see him. This tells me that we have a choice. We choose to see the negativity of the world, or we choose to see God. Sometimes we actually do see into the spirit world. Many have dreams and visions in which they actually see God, heaven, his blessings, or his glory. Our physical eyes are only one aspect of sight. True sight involves the processing of the information we take in with our eyes. So when we are told to fix our eyes on what is unseen, we are being instructed to make a decision to see into the Spirit and ascertain the things of God.
    The two verses above are not in conflict with each other, they compliment and bear witness to each other. The sight we are called to use is the God given gift of seeing into his realm, his dominion, his creation. It is a different outlook than the old way of seeing. This is the kind of sight that is by faith. What we see with our physical eyes is often discouraging. The world is ugly and there is much pain and sorrow. But when we look with eyes of faith, we see the glorious outcome that has been prepared by God himself. Christians lose their way when they are consumed with an eyeful of the world. Discouragement sets in and reality disappears. You see, the things of the Spirit are more real than what we see with our physical eyes. As the scripture above says so well, "What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Therefore, what we perceive through faith is more real and lasting than what we see with our eyes.
    Once again, it all comes down to a decision on our part, a change of mind. We can continue to live with the all consuming view of the world we see through our natural eyes, or we can live a new life full of faith, believing God for what he has promised. The more we see of his kingdom, the more we partake of the Spirit, the more we understand that this is the reality we have always hoped for. The things around us are temporary and spoiled by sin and the enemy. The truth about who we are, who we will become, what the world will become, and the beauty of heaven is all found in the Spirit. We will never be able to intellectualize these things, they are spiritually discerned. We live by eyes of faith, not our physical eyes. Choose to use your sense of sight the way God intends, it will change your perspective.