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Seeing the Unseen

By Matt Guerino, March 01, 2010

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us 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."--2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Early in the musical Les Miserables, ex-convict Jean Valjean is taken in by a kind priest to be fed and housed for the night. Desperate and poor, Valjean gets up in the middle of the night to steal some of the priest's silverware. The next day he is apprehended by the police, who suspect him of theft. They bring Valjean before the priest and ask him if Valjean in fact stole from him.

At this point the priest faces a clear choice. He can identify Valjean as a thief and receive justice. Or he can choose the path of grace and refuse to press charges. He chooses the latter, lying to cover the theft by telling the police that the stolen property is actually a gift he gave to Valjean. This single act of grace becomes a defining moment for Valjean, and completely alters the trajectory of his life.

This poignant episode is a defining moment for the audience as well. We sympathize with the old man whose kindness is rewarded only with theft. When the police drag the apprehended criminal before him, we feel the pull toward justice. And so we are nearly as surprised as Valjean is when the priest chooses grace instead. What motivates someone to choose loss over gain? To choose compassion over vengeance? To choose grace over justice?

In a word, vision. The priest views the same circumstances that we do, but he views them through a different set of glasses, so to speak. He doesn't focus on the immediate situation, but instead he sees the bigger picture. The priest knows that he himself is the recipient of God's grace, and that heaven is his real home. Thus he is willing to part with the wealth he can see, because he is firmly convinced of his eternal home even though he cannot see it.

This is the perspective the Bible describes in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. There the Scriptures tell us we can live life in one of two ways. We can either choose to focus on the "seen," that is the here-and-now. Or we can focus on the "unseen," the reality of our eternal home in heaven. When we focus on the latter, the things of this world begin to lose their grip on our hearts--even good things like fairness, security, and getting what's rightfully ours. We gradually come to care less about things like comfort and security, and we find ourselves free to love people generously and even sacrificially, the way God does.

How clear is the unseen reality of heaven to you? It may be that by focusing on the reality of heaven, you'll end up altering the trajectory of someone else's life on earth.

The choice is yours.