Walking by Faith

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.
 —2 Corinthians 4:18


This sinful world may attack my senses and emotions daily, but Paul proclaims my life in Christ should center on what is unseen rather than what is seen. Despite Paul’s words, many Christians are more moved by their feelings and human reasoning than by the “unseen.” 

Paul writes that we are to “to walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Why do people who live in a world of “sight” build their lives around things they can’t see, yet are convinced they are real? If a physician tells someone they have a specific diagnosis, they will believe what the doctor has said. We can’t see for ourselves what is happening in the world, yet we trust the news, allowing our emotions to be influenced. However, often when someone states they believe God’s Word over physical circumstances or symptoms, it is thought that they have lost touch with reality. 

The Christian life is to be controlled by faith instead of physical sight. There is a sense in which sight is involved, but it is spiritually seeing by faith rather than seeing with the physical eye that should determine our lives.

Moses “by faith…forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:17). In other words, Moses’ faith allowed him to carry on despite hardships, because he could visualize and understand the God who is incapable of being seen (John 1:18). Abraham was strong in faith because he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able also to perform (Romans 4:20-21). The woman with the issue of blood was strong in faith, being healed the moment that she acted upon her belief (Mark 5:25-34).

Faith is being certain of what is believed (Hebrews 11:1) and acting upon that belief (James 2:20). God is the object of our faith and what we believe. Our faith is in Him, and not what we see, hear, or feel. We must always believe the promise of God and the God behind that promise. Faith, like a seed, must be planted, watered, and nurtured (Matthew 13:18-23). It is a lifestyle where you daily “walk by faith and not by sight.”

Walking by faith is the decision to believe in God’s Word, to take into account the invisible and visible aspects of the world, and choose to see as God sees. Walking by faith is evidence of the unseen world of God’s promises (Hebrews 11:1). While a physician may see an illness, the believer chooses to see healing and life. While another may see lack, the believer chooses to see the riches of their inheritance in Christ Jesus.
 
Walking by faith means I choose to set aside my emotions and human reasoning. It means I choose to submit to God rather than succumb to fear, worry, depression, symptoms, or what I perceive as lack or failure. Walking by faith gives freedom from those limitations and steps into a place of certainty where God’s Word holds the highest authority over all aspects of life.

Faith without my response is dead; it has no power. For the rest of my life on this earth, I will renew my heart with the unchanging truth of God’s Word and focus exclusively on His promises. I will daily die to self and trust Him above all that bombards my senses and emotions. 

Today I choose faith in Jesus over self, healing over sickness, joy over despair, peace over fear, and supply over insufficiency. Walking by faith and not by sight is a decision I make daily to walk in His victory.