An important element of our faith is learning to “see” God’s unseen realities. These realities shape our lives as we internalize them. As believers God enables us to “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18 ESV). “Look” is a present verb; it is continuous. It is a stance that our heart adopts.
What are some of the other unseen things around us, in addition to our destiny? The most obvious one is the exaltation of Christ. We see Christ enthroned as king over all kings and authorities of this age and as king over his church (Eph. 1:20-22). Moreover, with faith we can see that we sit with Christ, for God “seated us with him in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6, ESV).
Another important unseen reality is the kingdom of God which came to earth with Jesus, and which most people do not see. His kingdom shines with blinding beauty all around us, but God hides it like a treasure in a field because he wants people to come to him by faith and not by sight. Yet, it is most certainly here, and we live in it. With the eyes of our heart we can dimly see the kingdom in operation which is the deep reality behind what is seen, and so we keep our gaze upon it. Through faith and love we see it and participate in his kingdom goodness and peace by his Spirit.
Consider another astonishing invisible reality: God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3, ESV).” What? We already have every spiritual blessing in heaven? This seems like too much, but as we think about it we recognize that it is true. Is there any everlasting good thing that we do not have? We are already united with Christ and the Father, we are the temple of the Spirit, and we have a new Adam self in the image of God. We are citizens of heaven with the rights that come with that, we have the power of the Resurrection, and we have a guaranteed eternity of joy in a perfect society – what do we not have? This is why Scripture tells us: “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21-22, NIV). All of God’s great teachers are ours! The world is ours! The present and the future are ours! We cannot see all these things clearly now because in Christ God has only made the down payment on our inheritance; we possess it in part but not yet fully. It is unseen yet more substantial than everything else we see around us.
We can seek and find the things above. God would not ask us to seek them if we could not find them. We can meditate on Scripture and set our minds on things above as he opens the eyes of our heart to see the unseen. This transforms and conforms our heart to the heart of God.
