Look Up, Not Around
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light 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
The apostle Paul wrote these words to encourage the believers in Corinth. What's remarkable is that Paul wasn't writing this from an encouraging spot. He was enduring tremendous hardship. By every visible measure, his circumstances were very discouraging.
Yet Paul says, "We do not lose heart."
Why?
Because he had learned where to look. Not at what was seen, but at what was unseen.
The visible world often tells a discouraging story. Bodies age. Progress feels slow. Relationships change. Circumstances shift. Everything we can see is temporary.
The problem comes when we begin measuring and comparing our lives only by what we see.
We've all heard the sayings, "Comparison is the thief of joy" or "To compare is to despair." One of my favorites is simply: "There is no win in comparison."
Comparison is an ever-changing measuring stick. Whether we decide we're ahead or behind, it rarely produces gratitude or peace. Instead, it breeds pride, envy, insecurity, or discouragement.
I grew up during the self-esteem movement of the 1980s and 1990s, which told young people to believe in ourselves, think highly of ourselves, and build ourselves up. The message was simple: You determine your own worth.
But there's a problem with that approach.
Some days I feel pretty good about myself. Other days I don't. If my value depends on my own evaluation, then my confidence rises and falls with my emotions or circumstances.
In a New York times article titled The Trouble with Self-Esteem years ago, the author observed that our greatest problem isn't necessarily that we think too little of ourselves—it's that we can't stop thinking about ourselves.
How true that is?!
Every day it can feel like we're standing in a courtroom, gathering evidence to answer the questions:
Am I succeeding? Am I enough? Am I winning or losing?
There will always be someone who seems smarter, more accomplished, more beautiful, more successful, or more gifted.
So how do we escape the comparison trap?
Sandra Stanley offers this simple but profound contrast:
Culture says: Fix your eyes on yourself.
Comparison says: Fix your eyes on the people around you.
God says: Fix your eyes on Me.
The apostle Paul is saying the very same thing in our key verse.
Stop measuring yourself by visible circumstances or by the lives of others. Look to God.
I love how we see this in the story of Moses.
When God called Moses to lead His people, Moses responded with a question:
"Who am I?"
Notice that God didn't answer with a pep talk about Moses' abilities. He didn't tell him to believe in himself.
Instead, God answered:
"I AM... and I will be with you."
Moses' confidence wasn't meant to rest in himself. It was meant to rest in God's presence and His power.
The same is true for us.
Just a few chapters before our key passage, Paul writes these familiar words:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."
In our spring study book, Unseen, author Sara Hagerty reminded us that the desire for glory isn't wrong. God placed that longing within us. The problem is that our culture encourages us to pursue self-glory—something that is ultimately selfish, competitive, and never satisfying.
God's glory is entirely different.
It is generous. It is eternal. It is what we were created for.
When I taught high school students about being made in God's image, I would use the example of a mirror. I would ask, "How do you see yourself in a mirror?"
The answer, of course, is that you have to look into it.
In the same way, in order to reflect God's image we must look at Him and understand His character, and invite His Spirit to form His character within us.
The more we fix our eyes on God:
We see His faithfulness instead of other people's outcomes.
We see His calling on our lives instead of someone else's path.
We see His eternal promises instead of temporary appearances.
The most important work God is doing in your life may be completely invisible to everyone else.
And that's okay.
Because the unseen work is often the deepest work.
It is where renewal happens.
It is where freedom grows.
And it is where comparison loses its power.
As you move through August, may Paul's words become your own:
"We do not lose heart."
The things we can see are temporary, but the things God is doing—both in us and for us—are eternal.
