Living By Faith and Not By Sight

In II Corinthians 5, Paul tries to explain to his readers how the bodies we live in now will not be the bodies we spend eternity in. After we die, our spirits will be disembodied for awhile and then we will learn what it really means to be alive when we receive our new eternal bodies. I suppose these bodies will be much like the one Jesus received at His resurrection. That should be kind of kewl. He could walk into locked rooms without a key. He could disappear in an instant and be somewhere else just by thinking about it. He could also sit down for a meal with friends and make physical contact with the men and women of this present world.

So...We will not be mere spirits in phantom bodies. We will be more alive than ever before and it will be forever. Happy Day eh!

Along about II Cor 5:7, Paul says that while we are in our present physical bodies that are prone to death and decay, we must live by faith and not by sight, and that mostly to keep hope alive for a better day, Resurrection Day!

What does all that really mean though, when applied to life here on earth where everything seems just nasty, brutish and short lived?

Every morning when I get out of bed, I go through this exercise to shed myself of the need for vision assistance. I do not have my glasses on. I do not immediately put them on. I want to see how long I can go without them. It is easier for me than most because my vision issues are a bit peculiar. I experience double vision because my 'headlights' are not in perfect alignment. When I get up in the morning my eyes are rested. They are not straining to stay straight (pun intended). I live without my glasses as long as I can because I hate being dependent on anything other than myself.

But as the stresses of the coming day begin to sink in and I settle into the life routine, my eye muscles begin to tighten up and two of everything begins to appear. I try closing one eye and that works for awhile, but when you can't reach your toothbrush because you have no depth perception, you know your in trouble. At this point the glasses go on. One lens has a prism in it. I do not know how it works, but suddenly I see perfectly, not through a mirror darkly, not with two of everything, but with one perfect vision of my world. I suddenly know where I am going and what I am doing and I can live and work unencumbered by my natural vision.

Do you get where I am going with this?

I spend way too much time without my glasses, trying to see things my way. Life here for me was not intended to be that way. I need my glasses, my faith, so that I am not deceived by my eyes. Depth perception is important in life. My faith supplies that when I use it, but more often than not, I find myself trying to rely on my own natural strengths. Those never last very long. I cannot see without my faith. Why do I think I can?