Not By Sight

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) Of course we understand that the Christians life is one of grace through faith, but walking by faith is a little more involved than a simple intellectual approach to life. To walk, in the Scriptures often denotes to live, to act, or to conduct ourselves in a certain way. It infers that life is a journey, or a pilgrimage, in the sense that as Christians, we are traveling to another country. This life is to be "walked out" with reference to the things which are unseen, and not with reference to the things which are seen. Therefore, to walk by faith, is to live in the confidence that the things that are unseen are more real than the things seen.

In other words, the people of this world are influenced by the things that are seen. They live for wealth, honor, praise, for the objects which this world can furnish, as if there were nothing which is unseen. But believers, on the contrary, have a firm conviction of the reality of heaven; the reality that our Redeemer is there to receive us; the reality that there is a crown of glory that awaits us; the reality that the power of God in miracles, signs and wonders are real today in this life; and that we live and act as if these things are as real, even more real, than the seen world around us.  To walk by faith and not by sight simply means that we are not influenced, governed or controlled by the things which we see, but by the things unseen. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Looking back we can see why so many people, even believers find it difficult to walk by faith. Before the Fall, man had perfect fellowship with God. He lived in the realm of the spirit, but when he disobeyed God's one commandment he was driven from the presence of God and he became dependent upon his five senses for everything. His spirit became the slave of his senses and when the senses gained the supremacy, man lost all real knowledge of spiritual things, he was now carnal, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) Throughout the history of man, even under the Covenant with Abraham, until the glorification of Jesus, man lived in the natural realm by his senses. Yet, in the realm of the senses, Abraham believed God. His faith is the true type of the faith of a believer today.

The good news for believers, as the Holy Spirit through Paul declares, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." (1 Corinthians 2:12) Our recreated spirits, receive life from God, are able to know the things of God, while the natural minds, dominated by the senses, are unable to know the things that are freely given to us in the redemptive work of Christ. The natural man does not understand the expressions "in Christ, in Him, in Whom." Now we can see that one of the greatest needs of the present day church is the renewing of the minds of believers, and of the education and development of the recreated spirit.

There is a way that we can help these brothers and sisters, and that is to teach them how to take their place in Christ, to become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, because faith comes by getting acquainted with the Father through His Word. Not simply studying the Word alone, but by actually living the Word; doing the Word; practicing the Word, and letting the Word live in us. So, let us ask the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes and walk by faith as father Abraham did, "who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, So shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." (Romans 4:18-21) Amen...