When facing serious personal issues and problems God may seem far away, and it’s important not to get distracted or neglect important spiritual considerations. Christians should strive to have a long-range perspective – a different way of viewing things which author Mary Whelchel calls, “living with forever eyes.” It’s a phrase and a concept expounded in her book, Looking With Forever Eyes, published by Servant Publications. Its subtitle, “How to Live in the Light of Eternity,” tells how she thinks God would have us travel through life.
If we are “sweating the small stuff” and are overwhelmed spiritually by some of the weightier matters of life, we need to remember times are going to become much tougher than what we are facing now. Biblical prophecy clearly indicates “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1). If we’re sweating over the small stuff now, how will we react to the prophesied future when matters are going to escalate?
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 outlines the approach we should have: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The ability to understand and be aware of the future God has in store for us is a spiritual gift from God. Speaking to Nicodemus in John 3:3, Christ said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” When we are “born from above” by God’s miracle, we are given a new perspective —“forever eyes”— so that we can relate to what Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, which helps our natural shortsightedness and human frailties. God enables us to see and comprehend that He is actively involved in world events and our well-being.
“Forever eyes” also changes how we view time. God’s Word tells us we have a limited number of days, but we are also encouraged to strive towards the gift of salvation which is eternal life. The reality is, our days are numbered and we don’t know when our number is up. Moses recognized we don’t look at time the way the ageless God does and reminded us of that in Psalm 90:10, asking God in verse 12 to “teach us to number our days.”
Life is not easy. There are great successes and heartbreaking failures. Both are a part of life, and can also help make us complete in Christ. God often places what look like insurmountable walls before us that are actually bridges to eternity if we use our “forever eyes” and focus on what God desires and His saving power in our lives. We are not alone in our trials, neither are those trials lost on God.
God clearly makes a comparison between the eyes we are born with and our new eyes, the “forever eyes” that we are granted at our conversion and the receipt of God’s Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 Paul tells us, “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit….”
“Forever eyes” are given to Christians to look beyond the disappointment of our nation’s turning from God, or the persecution by Satan of those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). We are to respond to the clarion call of Isaiah 30:21: “This is the way, walk in it,” and to keep in mind Paul’s admonition: “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Knowing that God is offering us eternal life, our focus should not be on what is behind, but on what is ahead being fully aware of God’s saving power in our lives even though, at times, we may have to endure suffering to mold us into Christlike completeness.
