“We
Walk By Faith—Not Sight”
II Corinthians 5:4-10
4)
For we that
are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5)
Now he that
hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
earnest of the Spirit.
6)
Therefore we
are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are
absent from the Lord:
7)
(For we walk
by faith, not by sight:)
8)
We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord.
9)
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted
of him.
10) For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Preface
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S |
ince
it is a fact that those who are righteous before God “walk by faith, not by
sight,” we know that the operation of the Spirit and in the Spirit is not
“visible.”
In
that the things of God are spiritual, they are not supposed to make human
“sense” to us. Therefore, our walk with the Lord must be “by faith.” Though we
hear this and it makes “sense” to us, we still seem to expect that we will
“understand.”
A
common mistake that is made is that once we accept something from the Lord,
then we must “do” something. Far too many believe that this involves “carrying
out something.” Nothing from the Lord is “helped out” by us in any way. Because by His own Hand He has already done all that needs to be done,
our only obligation is to “accept.”
Main Thought
The
last “person” Who expects human beings to operate in “understanding” is
the Lord. That is why this is not expected of us in salvation. The object of
salvation, anyway, is faith, rather than understanding and we are expected to
move from the human realm of understanding to the divine realm of faith. This,
then, is why acceptance of all things is required of us.
Despite
the world's current obsession with “knowledge,” one who would be spiritual must
accept that what he “knows” as a human being will never advance him
spiritually. By not accepting what the Lord has put in front of us as ours, we
end up attempting to “duplicate” the work of Jesus. Number one, this is impossible and number two, if we could, it
would never be done as well!
We
are at the point where we must learn the “profession of faith” and be willing
to proclaim, “My situation is already resolved because of what Jesus did on
If
there is any victory in the Lord for the believer, it will be accessed only by
accepting what God has already done. Try as we might, in ourselves we have
no power to solve any problems that come to us. Why not?
Because once we are redeemed, all of our problems are spiritual—and spiritual
problems are never resolved through human effort.
Verse
four of our text, today, is telling us that we are in constant agony as a
result of catering to our bodies. The “agony” comes from the “adjustment” that
must be made as we “transition” from living a “fleshly” to a “spiritual” life.
The
“habits” and “expectations” of the human being are set firmly in us and because
of this, are constant sources of “struggle” in our walk with the Lord. We are a people that is conditioned to respond to what is “done”
for us. This translates to “what is done for me” which translates to “natural”
occurrences. After salvation, it is impossible to functionally operate if we
remain this way. You see, those joined to Jesus become “one” with Him. This
leaves no room for operation as an independent person. Therefore, what is done
for us is not for “us” at all, but rather, for the Lord and His Kingdom. In
like manner, once one belongs to “the Body,” he no longer is a “solitary”
target. Anything directed toward him is, indeed, not directed “at him” at
all— but rather, toward the Body.
The
people of God must quickly accept that if we were brought into relationship
with Jesus through spiritual means, then the relationship, itself, is spiritual.
You see, since our “point of reference” is all that is fleshly, we try to
“work” our union with Christ in the same way that we “work” everything else.
This cannot work, for the Being we need to relate to, being spiritual, cannot
move back and forth between two realms just in order to please us. It is we who
must bend to Him.
One
can probably safely say that never has there been the “crisis of faith” that
exists in the Church, today. This, though since the beginning of time, nothing
about God's promise to His people has changed. From the beginning, through
baptism and infilling we have been given the “earnest” of the promise of God.
All He has ever wanted is for us to accept that .if He has given this the baptism
and infilling) to us, He will give us all that He has promised.
It
seems as if much of our problem stems from the fact that once we are united
with Jesus, rarely do we “revisit” our purpose and direction. Now, we know that
we became “new creatures” and for many, this is just a “catch phrase,” void of
any practical meaning. The fact and question remain, however, how it is
possible that mortal could be touched by the divine, yet remain unchanged? The
answer is that it cannot happen, for anything not like Jesus would have to be
changed and invested (left) with more than that with which he entered the
relationship. You see, this is the nature of the spiritually divine and as
such, is incontrovertible. Therefore, when we find ourselves outside of the
only possible outcome, it must be that we have failed to accept what is
rightfully ours.
A
successful “... walk (of) faith, not (of) sight” is possible only if we are
willing to forsake the “human.” Then, we can live every day the way that is our
“privilege”—in the victory of Jesus. It matters not how “difficult” our lives,
we cannot live by what we see! We are to accept God at His Word—no matter what
it costs us! After all, compared with One's very “lifeblood,” submission,
obedience and faith is not a bad “exchange,” is it?