April 19

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
18 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 clearly see here the emphasis on the eternal. We are to look towards eternity and live for eternity, in fact Paul says that we should die to our lives (self will) so we can live for eternity and live eternally. It should be obvious by this chapter and also many other places that we must live with an eternal perspective in order to persevere the difficulties of this life. Eternity, that which God put in our heart, is our longing and if we will let ourselves, our minds, our hearts go there, we will live with a passion and perspective that few others have.

I also see in this verse that something not so obvious is being said. We need to fix (to look unto, giving ones attention to, to dwell on) on that which is unseen. In the Greek it actually says, “not looking carefully at what you can see, but what you can’t see…” Isn’t that interesting? The emphasis is not looking at what you see! Our attention, or what we are supposed to be looking at is what we can’t see. That seems like a paradox except that we CAN see it! Jesus said it clearly that there are eyes that can’t see and there are eyes that can see. Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be opened so we could “see” or understand our inheritance. May God give us eyes to see beyond what can be seen.