"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).
 
Burd Coleman is a tiny village near Cornwall, Pennsylvania that is merely a single road with identical stone factory houses built on each side. These homes are about 150 years old but have been carefully restored and are beautiful; many decorated with colorful flowers. It seems as you drive by them that they're from an ancient era and are really old.

But are they older homes or are they newer homes?  It depends on your perspective.  Actually they were built when over 90% of the present Christian era (up to today) had already taken place.  From this perspective they are newer homes!
 
One of the great challenges of living for God in the daily grind is keeping a good balance of spiritual and eternal perspective.  We are bombarded with loud data to accomodate and even lure the physical senses and it can so easily drown out the "still small voice" in which God often speaks to us.

We face this challenge whether life is peaceful and prosperous or whether life is beset with multiple trials and hardships.  The tendency is to fix our eyes on what is seen.  Whether life is going well or is very hard we need to always remember "this too will pass."
 
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." Fixing our eyes in this manner requires concentration and focus. It means to "fix one's gaze upon, to concentrate one's attention on." Physically our eyes observe the seen but Paul is referring to our spiritual eyes here, a focus on the unseen, eternal Kingdom that awaits all who follow Christ.
 
"For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." What we now see with our physical sight is temporary. Only God who created and oversees the entire universe is stable and unchanging. The Greek word used here for "temporary" (proskairos) indicates the contrast between the temporal, which is also indefinite and the eternal, which is definitive.
 
Today I urge you to focus your heart on the One of whom we sing, "Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be".  Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. In the midst of any struggles you are dealing with on this day view these struggles not just with a temporal perspective but also with a spiritual perspective.  If you do this, You will surely see the unseen eternal.  
 
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord,
Open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You, I want to see You.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord,
Open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You, I want to see You.
 
 
Be encouraged today,
 
 
Stephen C. Weber

Daily Prayer:  Father, I ask for Your Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that I may know you better.  I pray that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened that I may better know the hope to which You have called me, the riches of Your glorious inheritance available to me, and Your incomparably great power for those of us who believe.  May the limited view I physically enjoy while journeying here on earth not overshadow the glorious view or faith perspective of my future eternal home.  Many treasures that do not have permanent storage here on earth have an eternal place in heaven so I want my focus to be heavenward so that earthbound entrapments don't rob my heart of the rewards that are yet to come.  Amen.

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Today's photo was taken from Doris High's photo blog. Doris and her husband Cerwin are friends from my association with Transport For Christ, a chaplain ministry for truck drivers.

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A friend sent me this video which relates to yesterday's message.

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Today's morning walk took us through a corn canyon. Some of the corn stalks are now over 12 feet tall. The corn was planted in mid April and at this rate the corn would grow to 48 feet in one year.  It sure makes for a very pleasant walk!

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Today's music:
"Open The Eyes Of My Heart"
"Shine Jesus Shine"