Walk by Sight by Faith

We all know the verse: "We walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor 5:7) And we get it. Paul wrote about "if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed" (2 Cor 5:1), about the hardship of living this life and, yet, "we are always of good courage" (2 Cor 5:6). Why? Because we walk by faith, not by sight. Sight would tell us we're in deep trouble; faith tells us that there is better to come. Is it possible, however, to walk by sight by faith?

John tells us the story of Jesus healing the man blind from birth (John 9:1-7). In it, Jesus declared, "I am the light of the world." (John 9:5) The man served to display God's glory (John 9:3), but Jesus referred to something much larger. It wasn't mere physical sight. In Acts 16 we read how Lydia, the seller of purple, came to faith. "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul." (Acts 16:14) Much bigger than physical sight. We need Jesus's eyes.

Jesus had a running theme regarding His words and deeds. "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment — what to say and what to speak." (John 12:49) "The works that I do in My Father's name bear witness about Me." (John 10:25) Jesus said and did what the Father told Him to say and do. In perfect submission to God the Father, God the Son obeyed. This took Him beyond a world perspective. He looked beyond the here and now. He saw eternity.

So Jesus sees value in "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" (Rom 9:22). He sees evil intent and sees good purpose (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28-29). He sees suffering and sees opportunity (James 1:2-4). Jesus sees sinners dead in sin (Eph 2:1-3) and produces abundant life (John 10:10). Where we see pleasure and comfort He sees sin and where we see hardships and trials He sees His sufficiency (2 Cor 12:9). Time and time again He sees an eternal view where we can see barely beyond our own noses.

How can we walk by sight by faith? We need to see things as Jesus does. By faith we need to see value in people that Jesus does when they don't necessarily seem so to us. By faith we need to see that He is sufficient when we appear to lack the means. By faith we need to reject the common view that "It's all about me" and replace it with "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matt 6:10) By faith we need to see a broader view of God at work when evil and calamity surround us. If we cease to walk by simple sight and walk in faith, we can begin to walk by sight by faith. And it's a much grander view. Mind you, it's not a normal view, but it is much grander.