DAY
8
A TRANSFORMING VISION
2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18
We don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:18
OUR GAZE determines the direction of our lives. The vision we hold in front of us is the one that steers us. We become what we behold. We are told such things by today’s self-help guides, as if they had discovered some long-lost secret to human behavior. But the truth is already in the Scriptures, and it has been playing out for all of human history. God gave Abraham a visual picture of his descendants, and Abraham believed. He gave Joseph a dream, and Joseph eventually experienced it. He had David anointed with promise, and David eventually stepped into it. The pattern has been repeated with all sorts of judges, prophets, priests, kings, and regular people outside the spotlight, and it shapes our lives today. What we look at matters.
Paul expressed this concept in his second letter to the Corinthians: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV). If we want to be transformed into the image of Christ, we must gaze at Christ. If we want to see heavenly realities, we must take our eyes off of earthly ones. If we want to leave the ways of the flesh behind us, we must stop focusing on the flesh and instead walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). We never escape our problems by staring at them. We can only move on by replacing old visions with new ones.
We might be frustrated by instructions that tell us to gaze at things that cannot be seen, but this is what the life of faith is all about. The issue isn’t so much what we see but which lenses we choose to look through. Circumstances look different through eyes of faith than they do through natural vision. God’s promises become our ultimate interpreters. If our perspective does not line up with the fullness and the glory of what he has said, we have to change it. There is no other way to experience his Kingdom in this world.
Of all the disciplines you seek to impose on yourself, let this one be your priority. With every circumstance, ask God how he sees it. Then align yourself with his vision. He is never pessimistic or fearful, so you will find yourself filled with hope and confidence. Stubbornly and relentlessly, look into eternity. Your troubles will begin to look impotent, and faith will fill your heart.
PRAYER
Holy Spirit, reorient my vision to see how you see. Give me the perseverance to look past the surface of my life and into your behind-the-scenes purposes. May visions of eternity guide my every step. Amen.
Why does it take discipline to see in new ways? What perspectives do you think you most need to change?
Further reading: Isaiah 55:8-9
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.
“IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST I GLORY,” JOHN BOWRING