"While we look" ... OK -- maybe this will help us get the passage above, maybe not. Do we focus on things that last forever? Or do we live a life that gets its satisfaction by focusing on things that fade away? Things that are "seen" are temporal, ever fading; and things that are not seen are eternal, ever renewing.
"While we look" ... What is the point of pain's compression that causes a sustaining of our focus on the eternal? What can cause the real beauty of our lives to ring longer and more true? Answer: Instead of squandering our momentary afflictions and oppressions in the marketplace of self pity, lay open our debilitating moments to minister to others by entrusting our pain to His unfailing care.
For this affliction (that compresses our vision right where we are, right now), if given to God ... trusting in His love and grand design that is far beyond our personal pain and profitable gain ... will urge us forward with the sustaining of an eternal vision. We will begin to more fully understand that our Jesus story is strategic and consequential in the lives of others. The precarious state of the souls of lost humanity, the proclaiming of the Gospel of Jesus, the lost turning to faith in Christ ... will weigh in as more important than our momentary pressures and pleasures.
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us as a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:" 2 Corinthians 4:17
My friend, the cross of Jesus Christ is enough evidence that Sin brings the death of an Eternal Hell; for otherwise there would have been no need for the suffering and the brutal death of God's Son, the only Savior, Jesus Christ. Were there no Hell there would be no need for anything other than our full bore consumption of whatever life affords us.
To borrow a few word's of a contemporary song writer if we believe that there is no place in the Kingdom for suffering ... "take our souls and throw them away, they're not needed in this new world where there is no one left to save". The problem ... we are not home yet, the momentary suffering of our souls is purposeful and needed in this fading world. But the beauty of this life in Christ is that "All things" push forward the need for us to know Him on a more intimate level.
This "While we look" at the unseen has the potential to actively engage us in His purpose "to seek and to save that which was lost", unless we are are looking with our eyes closed. Eyes Wide open please!
No matter how much the clamor of the temporary tries to drown out the voice of eternity ... Be courageous "God's Kids"! ...Rise up from your momentary affliction, bow before His saving vision, and sing the song of a Soul Set Free.
Fearlessly share your Jesus Story with all who will hear! If someone doesn't want to listen, sing on to another soul.
HLFA,
Jeff