Paul tells us that “we walk by faith, not by sight.”1 But isn’t the opposite of faith doubt? Why not say we walk by faith, not by doubt? Because the focus of our faith is not not doubting. The focus of our faith is not relying on or trusting in what we see. Most people would wonder why we would not want to build our lives on what we see. Paul reminds us, however, that “we see in a mirror dimly,”2 and we “know in part.”2 So, having faith is admitting that we do not know everything!
This is such great news! We spend a lot of time trying to figure things out and worrying about what we do not know. When we realize that we do not need to know everything, a heavy burden is lifted! We can trust that God knows everything. Therefore, we can shift our attention not to “the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen,”3 the things of faith, which is the only thing that will help us to see unseen things. Faith, then, helps us to see clearly and to know fully. Faith helps us to focus on spiritual eternal things rather than earthly temporal things.
To recap, then, Paul tells us that “we walk by faith, not by sight.”1 But isn’t the opposite of sight blindness? Is Paul saying that we walk by blindness, not by sight? That doesn’t sound right! Are we the blind fools that many educated people believe we are? No. Although we do not walk by, focus on, or trust in what we see, we are not blind. We actually see things that nonbelievers cannot see! Since Christ lives in our hearts, we have access to two ways of seeing things: 1) through the eyes of our body, and 2) through the eyes of our heart.
Paul prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.”4 When the eyes of our hearts are “enlightened,” we will have “the Spirit of wisdom.” The most educated people in the world are fools without this enlightenment because they only understand things in an earthly temporary way. Jesus called the educated people of his day “Blind guides.”5 The difference between nonbelievers and believers really comes down to this: nonbelievers believe they know everything; believers know they do not know everything, but God does. We believers rely on and trust in God. It’s called faith.
God loves the world and all of his creation. He loves us regardless of our behavior, and he loves us regardless of our love (or the lack thereof) for him. But if we want to please God, he does require one thing: Faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please him.”6 And what is faith? Believing that God is real and everything he says is trustworthy.
Faith is what we bring to God. Our faith is not perfect; it is not without its doubts; it is not without its blind spots. Faith is not a decision we make; it is the way we live our lives, the way we walk. We either walk by faith or walk by sight. Walking by sight is more popular and certainly easier. After all, when we can see everything clearly, then we have nothing to fear. However, those of us with “the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened”4 understand that we can see nothing clearly and have everything to fear. Which is why we trust in God! Our challenge is to remember not to put our trust in what we see, but “trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”7
Walk by faith.
12 Corinthians 5:7 22 Corinthians 13:12 32 Corinthians 4:18 4Ephesians 1:17-18 5Matthew 23:16 6Hebrews 11:6 7Proverbs 3:5
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