Will The Real, Please Stand Up?

2 Corinthians 4:18

. . . The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

If you are a Christian, then you live in two dimensions. They are called by different names, but they mean the same thing. You will often hear them referred to as the spiritual and the physical or the visible and the invisible; or still another way they are denoted is the tangible and the intangible. Your ability to put these two realms into proper perspective will determine whether or not you will succeed.

If you ask the world the question, "What is real?", they would say that reality is something that you can touch, taste, smell, hear or see. This is exactly what we as human beings are prone to believe. This sounds so sensible and logical doesn’t it? If it passes one of those five tests, it must be real. Few there would be who would disagree with such a fundamental claim, after all, that is what our senses tell us.

The only problem with this type of thinking is that it is wrong. It comes from fallen man's intellect and stems from Adam and Eve's act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Man was not created to live by his own senses and ability to determine reality. He was created to live by divine revelation. In the fall, man was terribly crippled in his ability to function and to understand what is real and what is not.

Let us look at what the Bible says about reality. Remember, the Bible is truth, absolute truth. It is what God says, anything that contradicts what God says is an untruth. The verse for today says that our eyes are not fixed on that which is seen, but that which is unseen, for that which is seen passes away; that which is unseen is eternal.

Now, what is more real, that which is temporary or permanent? The permanent of course! That which is seen is passing away. You can't put your hands on one thing that will last, you can't even see anything that will last. Don’t put your trust and energy into that which is passing away. Put your trust in the unseen things of God, they will last forever.