Xanthe Hancox

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

As soon as we’re born, we begin to die. Not exactly the cheeriest thought for your Wednesday morning, but it’s true. All of us are wasting away physically, no matter how spritely you might feel.

However, Paul has not resigned himself to suffering and approaching death and neither should we. He’s not being fatalistic here, he’s reminding us that as believers in Jesus Christ, there’s something far bigger going on.

God is not asking you to treat pain as though it were pleasure, or grief as though it were joy, but to see your earthly troubles in the light of heavenly glory and thereby be strengthened to endure.

When we look at our troubles with an eternal perspective we see them as they actually are. Our bodies may decline in physical strength, but inwardly we’re growing in spiritual strength.

Note the relation between v. 16 and v. 18; this inner transformation in the midst of outer decay does not happen automatically. In other words, the renewal Paul describes only occurs while “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

 As we fix the gaze of our hearts on the glorious hope of the age to come, God renews our inner being, notwithstanding the simultaneous decay of our outer being! Note also that this is no fleeting glance or passing thought about eternal glory; Paul is talking about an attentive and studious concentration on the inestimable blessings of heaven.

Paul is warning us against fixating on what this world can provide and calling us to set our hope and confidence on the eternal values of God’s kingdom.

Here, then, is the power to persevere: by setting your mind and fixing your gaze and focusing your heart on the unseen yet eternal realities of what God has secured for you in Christ.

Prayer: Father, we thank you for this great truth, what a privilege to live in the light of eternity, in the prospect of heaven. Thank you for such saving grace that renews us inwardly day by day. Amen.