Our family’s story since moving overseas has been one of transition… near constant transition.  Unexplained sickness moved us from one place, a job brought us to another, and trying to be more strategically located to reach out to the unreached in our city has moved us yet again.  It is so easy when things are changing and everything is so very uncomfortable to focus on the things that are seen.  Paul talked about this tendency, though-and God is so faithful to speak to us through Scripture.

2 Cor 4:16-18 says:
“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  This slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison-as we 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.”

So we think, what is seen?  Moves. Language study.  Jobs. Team reports, meetings, and the like.  House church responsibilities.  The normal demands of family life: investing in and maintaining a healthy marriage, schooling decisions for the children, family devotionals, personal time in the Word, etc.  And somewhere in the middle of all this, we strive to love the people around us and develop meaningful relationships with them so that we can share Truth.  The seen things can overwhelm life so much at times that we completely forget about the unseen.

But what is unseen?  God is working in us to develop perseverance, which James tells us is the way to maturity.  He is giving us a steadfast spirit… a family ethos of, “not my will by Yours.”  Hearts that say, “Not where we would place ourselves, but where YOU would place us.  Not the schedule we would choose, but what YOU know we can handle.  Not the circumstances of life that we would opt for, but the ones that You know will place us in the path of hungry people who need Jesus.”  He is preparing us to pour ourselves out for the people around us, and to love like Jesus loved.  And maybe, hopefully, prayerfully, preparing their hearts for His Spirit to take up residence there.

It is so easy for the seen things to eclipse the unseen, but God is faithfully working in the unseen places to produce grace in us so that we might one day behold His eternal glory alongside those of our neighbors who have not yet met Him.