2 Corinthians 4:13-18

2 Corinthians 4:13-18  It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,  because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

As Christians we walk and live by faith.  By faith we know this world is not our home.  We know there is a spiritual world, one that cannot be perceived by our senses.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.  (Hebrews 11:3)  We know that God does not solely abide in this dimension of reality, for this reality HAS BEEN CREATED.  Consequently, we know there is a spiritual world, an uncreated world, one that can be entered into by faith.  If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  (Romans 10:9-10)  Paul believed emphatically in the eternal kingdom of God being accessed by faith.  Therefore he could say,  With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.   His message was so much of faith that he was willing to go through all kinds of persecution and difficult situations to bring the gospel to people.  

Do we have that kind of faith?  Do we really believe there is a world beyond our perception?  Or do we mainly believe in the physical world and maybe that God is just a bigger entity who can create things such as the heavens and earth and the stars and galaxies.  Do we really believe there is another domain of existence?  Or do we only believe in what we can see or touch, such as the billions of galaxies that we observe in space.  Is this God of yours bigger than space?  Or is He some kind of a creator who tinkers with creating things, and for some reason you are just one of those creations?  Who is your God?  If He is one who exists in your finite perception, you don't need faith, but if He is beyond your human abilities to comprehend or imagine, if He exists in a world you cannot perceive except by divine inspiration, He is the God of faith, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He is the God that requires faith, the God who sent his Son to die for your sins.  There is no other way of knowing Him.  If He is the God that sends a shiver down your spine; He is still knowable through senses, but if He is the God that seems distant when you are in trouble, it is because He is the God found through faith.  

Now, do I not believe that God is intimate?  Yes, I believe He is intimate, but sometimes we want to make God in our own image.  Yet God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.  (John 4:24)   He is everywhere simultaneously.  He is all knowing, all powerful, all-encompassing.  Nothing that is, is beyond him.  Who is your God?  Well, God is the God of Faith and He is Alive.  Paul quotes the Psalmist, “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”  In the same psalms it says, All men are liars.  Otherwise, God receives and delivers those who believe and state it with their mouths.  He brings them out of death; He places their feet in the eternal "land of the living."  Let all men be liars, for eternal life in God is REALITY.  And that reality can only be gained by faith that He is, for faith is the key to the kingdom of God, to eternal life.  Therefore, Paul says, So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  Paul's faith was so sound, so sure, that he was willing to face any dire circumstance in this temporary world.  His God was so real to him that he was willing to lose all, to gain EVERYTHING.  Are we so willing?  DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THERE IS ANOTHER DIMENSION WHERE GOD IS, A TRUE RESTING PLACE, AN ETERNAL HOME?  YES WE DO, for we live BY FAITH in the I AM, who was and is and shall be.  Amen!