“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 -

Faith is the ability to trust in that which we cannot see or touch, but which we are confident is both true and real (v 18). Faith is not, therefore, as some claim, an illusory trust in that for which we have no evidence. Rather, the evidence is that God has raised Jesus from the dead (v 14) and is therefore able to do the impossible, to bring life from death.

When we consider all the troubles Paul had to endure (and we are not yet through), it is amazing to us that he did not just give up. It is because he could see a future reality, unseen in the present, but prefigured in the resurrection, a vision of future glory that would abundantly outweigh all present troubles. By contrast, all these were light and momentary (v 17). Imagining this glorious God-given future can inwardly renew us (v 16) and constantly impassion us. It is not beginning the race only but completing it that really matters.

Prayer: Dear Lord, above all else, I want to finish the race strongly. I praise you for the assurance that one day I will dwell in your house forever.

(A summary from Encounter with God)