Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: II Corinthians 1-4
II Corinthians 4:18
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.
Who brings to you important truths about things unseen, things eternal? A medical doctor does not. Lawyers? Politicians? Media personalities? Teachers of reading, writing, and arithmetic? How about most parents, or friends, influencers on social platforms? Rock stars, athletes, champions of industry? No! Then who?
Your pastor, that is who. The pastor that God has given to teach His Word, preach His Gospel, walk with his congregants through difficult times, and rejoice in their victories while keeping them grounded in Scriptural doctrines. No one can take the place of a true, God called, Spirit filled, man of God in your life, the man you call pastor.
For it is the pastor that reminds every member of the church to keep their eyes on things unseen, not seen. Everyone else mostly deals with the seen, yes, from time-to-time others may drop a Biblical teaching, however God has deputed the pastor to be the full time caretaker of your soul. Part of that is to bring to your mind’s eye the unseen things of eternity. The unseen is just as much a reality as the things seen. It could be said, without much fear of contradiction, that the unseen things are vitally, enormously, eternally more important than the seen.
Consider II Corinthians 4:14-18. Paul begins this section with a promise of the resurrection. Truly as he clearly stated in the first chapter of this book: For all the promises of God in him are yea… (1:20). Yea, we will live again! Yea, death has no hold on the child of God! Yea, the Lord will be with us unto the end, which for the child of God there is no end! Yea, Yea, Yea! All His promises to us are yea, not maybe, or perhaps, or might be, but yea!
Then the apostle reminds us that all things that take place in a preacher’s life are for the benefit of those who follow them as they follow Christ. All things for your sake, and for the glory of God, vs. 15.
Then this great man of God gives the key to suffering and victory alike which is the spirit (the inward part of the person) being renewed day by day. Yes, the outward will suffer and perish, but the inward can be renewed daily. This is the importance of a believer’s personal, daily, and faithful walk with God. Starting with daily devotions at dawn and a continual all day long spirit of prayer and thanksgiving unto Him.
Then Paul mentions their light affliction: meaning the beatings, the false accusations, the hardships of the ministry, the imprisonments, the rejection, all the persecutions, are nothing more than a light inconvenience. For they work in them a far more exceeding and eternal measure of glory. For the trials of your faith here, the hurts and disappointments of this life, are small in comparison to the coming glory in eternity.
Which brings him to the concluding statement. Which succinctly put is: keep your eye on the things that are unseen. For all you see today is temporal. Meaning temporary. But the things that you cannot see, they are eternal. This is that of which a good pastor will constantly remind his congregation. See the unseen!
Dr. William T. Howe
Comments