A DIFFERENT VISION
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
When I was a young boy, I actually bought X-ray glasses via an ad in a comic book. These glasses were supposed to enable me to see through walls and even see through clothes. Although, at that time in my life, seeing through clothes did not appeal to me. These glasses were going to give me the ability to have a different vision.
Fast forward a few decades, and the concept of a different vision is still attractive. However, I want a vision like the apostle Paul. Paul was a man who stayed encouraged and did not lose heart even though he suffered through some extremely difficult times. Paul knew that the outward man, our bodies, were not going to last forever. He was not on a quest to stay young. Paul knew that the outer man was perishing, dying. But the inward man, the spiritual part of man, was not dying. The spiritual part of man was being renewed day by day. So Paul's vision was spiritually focused
And Paul's vision was not consumed with the troubles he encountered. He calls what he endured a light affliction that was momentary. But if you listen to Paul recount what he experienced, you will think he was delusional. In the eleventh chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul gives a laundry list of all the things he went through preaching the gospel. He was robbed, beaten five times, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. And yet Paul calls all of these things momentary light affliction. That, my brothers and sisters, is a different vision. But Paul knew these things were working something far more glorious than the suffering was painful.
Paul said he was not looking at the things which are seen because they were temporary. Paul saw everything around him as temporary and subject to change. What was more important to him were the unseen things of God's kingdom. He saw the inward man as being greater than the outer man. He saw the glory that would result from the things he suffered as being greater than the suffering. Paul was looking beyond this realm to the realm that never changes.
APPLICATION
Seeing things the way Paul saw them would make such a difference in our lives. We become so focused on the temporary world around us and so caught up in petty stuff that we can miss the important things of God's kingdom. The things around us are subject to change, but the spiritual things we are a part of are eternal.
PRAYER
Lord, help me see beyond the temporary world I live in and see things from Your perspective. Help me develop a new, different vision.