Confronting the Unseen

Let’s look a little closer at the subject of perspective. With a spiritual perspective, we must have spiritual eyes. We must see the things that God sees, and see them as God sees them, at least to the best of our ability. In order to see things clearly, from a spiritual perspective, we must have spiritually keen eyesight. We must rid our sight of any obstacle that would cloud our spiritual vision, or distort it in any way, or blind us. Paul contrasts the spiritual man and the carnal man, with their advantages and limitations in 1 Corinthians 2. A spiritual man sees clearly with spiritual eyes.

The Hebrew writer defines “faith” as the “substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” Paul describes the perspective of a spiritual man very clearly in 2 Corinthians 4. “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal”.

So, what do we see? And how does what we see affect our lives. In theory, it’s simple. The word “confront” means to come face-to-face. And the things we confront, or should be confronting, should affect our lives. Let’s look at three possibilities.

The cross should be confronted. Our ability, or inability, to confront the cross daily will shape our lives. Do we regularly come face-to-face with the cross and it’s meaning? What about the personal implication of the cross? Have we become so numb to saying that Jesus died on the cross for our sins that we forget that He died on the cross because of our sins? BECAUSE of my sin? Do we regularly come face to face with the love required to do what He did? Do we regularly come face to face with the mercy and compassion that caused Him to endure such treatment? If we treat the cross as an historical event, it will mold our lives in certain ways. If the cross is personal, painful, joyous, and cleansing, it should certainly shape our lives in a different direction.

The empty tomb should be confronted. Can you imagine the change in fervor experienced by the twelve, from when they saw Jesus’ lifeless body being carried into a tomb to when He appeared to them again, full of LIFE? Unless we come face to face with an empty tomb, the cross is just a historical event. Coming face to face with an empty tomb brings meaning to our confronting the cross. Because of an empty tomb, His words, His actions, and His message have relevance in our lives. And they will shape our lives accordingly, if we regularly come face-to-face with the empty tomb.

Judgement should be confronted. The empty tomb gives validity to Jesus’ claim that He has gone to prepare a place for us, and He will come again. Judgment has the same certainty as death for us. Do we regularly come face to face with judgement? Wouldn’t a keen awareness of judgement sharpen our spiritual perspective and affect our lives?

Our ability to come face-to-face with the cross, with the empty tomb, and with judgement is vital to our spiritual health. These things must be more than facts that we intellectually grasp. Our perspective must shape our lives.