Joel M Bradshaw

16So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.17For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.–2 Corinthians 4

Paul was writing to a church experiencing physical persecution. He thus gave them eternal perspective. There is something about our existence that is obviously seen and another that in unseen.

The outside you gets older and eventually breaks down. The people I visit in nursing homes don’t progressively get healthier and more physically able. Neither does anyone else, for that matter. Much money and medical care can preserve a body, but it will eventually wear down and die. That is the physical reality.

Yet there is an inside you that cannot be seen or scientifically measured. This is your thought life, your emotions. When someone says they love another with all their heart they refer to this. Paul’s point is that this unseen part of you doesn’t break down like the outside, but actually is regularly renewed. I’ll never forget hearing my 80 year old friend Terry telling me that it felt like just last week that he was 18 and in the prime of his life. Many of us see our children grow up and remember their toddler years like it was yesterday.

Paul wanted them to focus with the perspective of the renewal each of them received. Persecution could damage their bodies, but their faith would get stronger. As they trusted God they received profound inner unseen blessings. I have had MS for over half of my life and my body sometimes is absolutely not my friend. But I have learned to trust God and have this perspective that sees Him renew my spirit. I don’t give up because of that. I fight back against my depression. I trust Him in my anxiety. I endure weakness with joy.

Because God is at work making that unseen part of me tremendously strong even in the midst of physical weakness. He renews me and strengthens my faith daily. This is what makes the Christian life wonderful even in a challenging world. I encourage you to maintain that unseen perspective.–JMB