If Paul's words in his first letter to the Christians at Corinth are a little confusing, you need to look a little deeper. In these few words we have a basic tenet of God's "way." That is, these words reach into the very heart of God to extract the underlying purpose by which He does what he does in each of our lives.

The things that are not describes what we cannot see with our physical eyes. In Hebrews it's said that such things are the very substance, or reason for our faith. In simple terms, what we can't see is as much a reality to God as what we can see. The things we can't see provide a basis for faith and hope. When we can't see, but God says it's there, it takes faith on our part to believe it. And it takes a deeper trust in God to act like something's there when our physical being is telling us it's not there.

If a person without faith in Jesus is reading this, he'll more than likely accuse me of being a mental case. But that's why we're proud to be called foolish in the eyes of the world, isn't it. The world says it there and we can agree with it. God says it's there but the world can't see it and says it's not, who are you going to trust?

I pray that today you'll be like the servant to Elisha who stood with the prophet on the wall of the city. Looking out across the horizon, the servant saw the enemy of God lining up with weapons to destroy the city. But Elisha saw what God saw and that happened to be mighty angels surrounding the enemy but out of their "sight." When Elisha wanted God to improve his servant's vision, he simply asked God to let his servant see what was invisible to his physical eyes.

If you're living defeated today, thinking there's no hope for being victorious, I pray God will open your eyes to see what He sees. To do that, He must dim your vision on those physical things that manipulate your lack of faith. When you do, you will experience what Paul is talking about: you will not glory in your superior vision, but God's amazing grace. You won't boast of your ability, but rather in God's ability. You won't venture to live by your own faith, but in the faith of the Son of God whom you will see face to face when you get a body that's not limited to what you can see with physical eyes.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Er. 1:1-2:70 1 Co. 1:18-2:5 Ps. 27:8-14 Pr. 20:22-23 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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