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September 14th, 2023
Scripture
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So, we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT
Devotion
What are your eyes fixed upon—the seen or the unseen, the trouble, or the glory? The Apostle Paul does not literally mean we should “fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.” That would be, obviously, impossible. What he means is that we should direct our lives toward a goal which cannot be seen, the goal to complete fulfillment of our salvation. The goal is to become legal residents of the New Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God that shall be fully revealed in the future. This includes the mansion Jesus is preparing for us in his Father’s house (John 14:2), which is itself located in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-3). All this is the priceless inheritance which is now being kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4), but shall one day descend to earth (Revelation 21:2). These things cannot be seen now, but one day we will see them and they shall last forever.
Our lives should be directed to this goal and as a consequence, we should not “look at the troubles we can see now.” What Paul means is that we should not pay them so much attention that we allow them to keep our lives from being directed toward the goal that “vastly outweighs them.” These temporary troubles have been designed by the enemy to keep us from the goal. Although at present they seem large, in comparison to the eternal goal, they are small. We should not direct our lives toward the alleviation of these troubles at the expense of our eternal reward.
When you are burdened by the troubles you are going through, remember what they are doing for you. They are producing the glory of the future goal. You cannot see it yet, but your inheritance in heaven has been increasing in glory.
Inspirational Image of the Day
