2022_09_05 Insight Post- Kim Feld

  -   September 5, 2022

This week’s reading- 2 Corinthians 3-4

I hope you are enjoying this last summer holiday today! The last few months have flown by really quickly. I always look forward to summer, but fall is my favorite season. I’m excited about cooler weather, turning leaves, and pumpkins.

As I was reading through 2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4, many things stood out to me, but I kept coming back to the last portion of chapter 4:

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ 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.

It can be challenging not to lose heart when you are in a season of hard things. It’s also difficult to see our circumstances as “light and momentary troubles.” But the key is found in verse 18.

For those of us who are Christ-followers, we know that our lives are temporary and that we have eternity ahead of us, but all we have experienced is the here and now. Eternity can seem like a concept that’s difficult to grasp. So, we focus on what we know, what’s right in front of us. Look at this verse from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

This verse in Ecclesiastes comes after a familiar passage that talks about there being a time for everything. Tradition identifies Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes, but we don’t know for sure. However, the author knew that God created each of us for eternity even though we can’t see the whole picture from beginning to end. The New Living Translation uses the word “planted” instead of “set” – “He has planted eternity in the human heart…” – and I like the picture those words create. I see them as seeds of eternity planted in our hearts, and they develop and grow when we fix our eyes on a future we can’t see.

Look at this passage from Hebrews 12:

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The author tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, using Him as an example of focusing on the eternal and not the temporal. Jesus is our model. He knew that unspeakable joy was coming even though He was experiencing pain and suffering.

Joy is coming for you and me too, even though today may look bleak. Where we fix our eyes and our thoughts matter.