"For momentary,
light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comparison, 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."
-2 Corinthians 4:17-18
The year 2012 was very
exciting and full of new experiences. I graduated from high school, and I began
college. I made new friends in college, joined my church’s college group, and
did many other things. I am so grateful that God allowed me to have the
experiences that I did in 2012, despite my many failures. I did not deserve to
have such a year in 2012, but God does not look at what I deserve. God looks at
who I am, His son, bought with the blood of Jesus.
In 2012 my key verse was Philippians 3:10, “that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death”. I chose this verse so that I could have a
renewed purpose in my life. During my senior year of high school, I realized
that my life had the potential of being very ordinary. I would graduate high
school, college, then get a job, retire and then die. While this is what many
people strive for, I felt like it wasn’t enough. Surely there is more to life
than school and work.
I chose Philippians 3:10 because it gave me a new life
direction. Instead of living for my own desires, I would be living to know
Christ. This sounds easy, but to know Christ is not to simply know Him like a
school textbook. As the rest of the verse says, I have to experience Him, in
His sufferings, His death, and resurrection. That is the only way to truly know
Christ, and the only way to achieve my true purpose.
This key verse got me to think a lot about my purpose in
life, but I didn’t really do anything to achieve it. That is why this year I
decided to choose a verse that would help me strive toward my purpose. 2
Corinthians 4:18 says to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen”. Obviously this does not mean that I physically look
at things which are unseen, because that is impossible. The Good News
translation says “fix our attention”, instead of “look”. In order to achieve my
purpose of knowing Christ, I have to focus on what is unseen.
In 2012 I have been thinking a lot about eternity. Even
though our lives on earth feel long, and we are impressed with people who live
to be very old, our lives are very short. If heaven is eternal, and I believe
it is, then comparing our earthly life to our heavenly life is like comparing
80 to infinity. Compared to infinity, 80 is practically nothing. So why do live
as if we have to live such comfortable lives and achieve nothing for eternity?
I believe that it is because we are fixing our eyes on that which is seen. We
respond to the things which are seen, including ourselves. Jesus has told us to
deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. We have to respond to God,
not to ourselves.
It may seem that this key verse is even less practical
than my 2012 key verse, but the unseen things are not just heaven and God. They
include faith, love, trust, fellowship, and similar things. While these have
aspects that can be seen (faith with action), they cannot actually be seen.
This means that these things should be what I focus on. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that
“without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews
11:1 tells us that “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.” Faith is a very important part of achieving my purpose,
because I need faith to believe in what is not seen.
Out of all the things I mentioned previously, Jesus told
His disciples that love is the most important. Matthew 22:36-39 reads “’Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you
shall love your neighbor as yourself”. This is only one of the many times in
the Bible that we are instructed to love. I could spend a very long time
talking about love, but I’ll just say that I need to focus a lot on loving God
and people.
Choosing to live a life devoted to Christ will not be
easy. Just as Christ suffered, I also must suffer with Him. I do not know what
kind of suffering I must endure, but I know that the reason Jesus suffered is
because of sin. He did not sin, but He died because of sin, in order to save
us. I too may suffer because of the sin in my life, but I know that through
Christ I can endure any suffering. Even though suffering may seem like it is
too much to bear, they are simply “momentary, light affliction.” Paul often
writes about glory as compared to suffering. In Romans 8:18 he writes “for I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” No suffering I endure can
outweigh the glory that will be revealed in me.
What I do in my short life will determine my eternity. If
I choose to live for myself, and I refuse to believe in God, then I will live a
terrible eternity in hell. If I choose to live for Christ and I believe in Him,
then I will live a great eternity in heaven. Paul gives us encouragement and
tells us that “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait
for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20)”. This is a reminder to
me that I must not focus my attention on this life, but to focus on the things
unseen. I do not belong on this world; I am in it, but not of it. My true
citizenship is in heaven, not here on earth.
-Smart
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