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A common theme with God’s people–and by that I mean people who were living in and going after a right relationship with God–all throughout the Bible was their yearning to see something that they couldn’t see at the time that they wanted to see it. They had a hope that looked forward to something that they wanted, or even possessed, but they just didn’t have it, or they weren’t able to see it…yet.
Hebrews 11:8-16 and 24-27 reminds us that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and even Moses heard the calling of God and went after what God had promised them, exchanging the visible world for the unseen promises of God. They did this knowing that to the world, the promises of God made no sense, but they held on because they knew they would see the land of God, the heavenly home, and the One who called them through His word.
As Christians, our faith causes us to walk toward something that we cannot see right now, but at the same time we know we’re going to see it eventually. We possess it by hope and we see it by faith (Hebrews 6:13-19; 2 Corinthians 5:7). It’s as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:18-5:1, “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. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The same theme that pushed Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Moses forward was the theme that led Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it’s the same theme that’s meant to describe us as Christians – people who are looking for and holding on to what can’t be seen…yet. And why do we do this? It’s because of the One who makes the promise in His word.
We sing a song that reminds us that “There’s a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar, for the Savior waits over the way, to prepare us a dwelling place there.” One of the sweetest things about this land when we get there is that we’ll be able to see it; there will be no more yet to hide it from our eyes! But until then, can you see it, or have you yet to look for it?
Eugene Adkins
Keltonburg church of Christ
Smithville,TN