Rev. Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine, First United Methodist Church KennedaleII Corinthians 5:7
The belief of this passage of scripture depends on whether we are walking by faith or by sight. What does walking by faith mean? It means that our behaviors, our thoughts about life’s events and the circumstances they create and our conduct are regulated and lived out based on the Word of God. {{more: Read More …}} It is literally and truly our guide.
Consider II Corinthians 5:4-7, “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight”.
God is preparing us for entrance into His Kingdom in a similar way a human instructor prepares a school student for graduation and service. There are two major differences though: We must learn our lessons by faith, and in our case, the purpose is to be clothed with glory and eternal life.
These verses assure us that God has made a New Covenant with us in which we are responsible for carrying out assigned duties. He is preparing us to fulfill those responsibilities to a far greater extent in His Kingdom. As He is preparing us, we must live by faith.
Luke 14:26-27 reminds us of the seriousness of the pledge we made to Jesus Christ at baptism, to live by faith while carrying out our responsibilities. This serious commitment works in our favor. Knowing God’s character from the midst of this close relationship, we can always be reassured that God is in control despite how difficult events look to us. This truth became the foundation for the psalmist’s victory in his situation ( Read Psalm 73). Our responsibility is to trust Him as the psalmist did, to walk by faith, not by appearance or physical observation. God is faithful!
Paul, then, clearly establishes what our aim should be no matter the circumstances in our lives. We should desire to please God by being faithful to Him in return as demonstrated by trusting Him. He reinforces this by stating that we must be ready to answer for our choices.
For we walk, to walk, in the Scriptures often denotes to live, to act, to conduct in a certain way. The sense here is, that we conduct ourselves in our course of life with reference to the things which are unseen, and not with reference to the things which are seen.
By faith, in the belief of those things which we do not see. We believe in the existence of objects which are invisible, and we are influenced by them. To walk by faith, is to live in the confident expectation of things that are to come; in the belief of the existence of unseen realities; and suffering them to influence us as if they were seen.
The people of this world are influenced by the things that are seen. They live for wealth, honor, splendor, praise, for the objects which this world can furnish, and as if there were nothing which is unseen, or as if they ought not to be influenced by the things which are unseen. The Christian, however, has a firm conviction of the reality of the glories of heaven; of the fact that the Redeemer is there; of the fact that there is a crown of glory; and we live, and act as if that were all real, and as if we saw it all. The simple account of faith, and of living by faith is, that we live and act as if these things were true, and suffer them to make an impression on our mind according to their real nature.
“I don’t know how,but I know WHO!”Peace, Pastor NeldaFirst United Methodist Church of Kennedale
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