When you wake up in the morning can you see the time on the clock beside your bed or do you need to put on your glasses first? As you rise and move into your day, what do you see? Do you notice your overflowing laundry and your briefcase full of projects? What else do you see?

It comes so naturally to fix our eyes on what is seen that we miss what is unseen. I was thinking about this as I watched the news reports concerning the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as it ravished the southeast. What was seen on the television were the horror of the storm’s devastation and the extreme depravity of mankind in response to the disaster. I knew there was more going on in that crisis than the news reporters had discovered. I knew there were people reaching out to one another, making personal sacrifices to give aid. It took a week for the news reporters to find those folks, but now the heroes and Good Samaritans are being publicized. We need to keep in mind that what we can see is not all that can be seen.

2 Corinthians 4:18 says: 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. It is so instinctive for us to fix our eyes on what is seen. Most of us fix our eyes on what we see in our family and friends; maybe we don't like what we see and we feel hopeless. Some of us fix our eyes on what is seen and are quite happy with our lot in life. Either of these responses can cause us to miss out on what is unseen. Whether we are happy with what we can see going on in our lives or devastated by it, we need to understand that there is more to what we are seeing than meets the eye.

God calls us to fix our eyes on what is unseen. He longs for us to see that this world and everything in it are temporary except His Word and people. If we get so fixated on what we have in this world—overly focused on our relationships being what we want them to be, constantly working to having belongings that give us a sense of status—we will miss out on what is unseen. It’s the unseen that is really crucial on earth.

As long as we get so focused on the puny things of this earth—compared to the things of heaven—we will never discover what God is really up to by letting us spend the years we are given on earth. We will miss out on knowing true intimacy with God Who is unseen. We will get caught up in the smallness of this world and totally miss the wonders of God.

I'm learning to not trust what I am seeing. What I see is a friend who has totally turned her back on God. What is unseen is that she is searching deep down for a hope of returning to Him. That is why I need to fix my eyes on what is unseen. I can pray, God, I don't know what you are doing in this girl’s life. It looks to me like she is on a path for her destruction. I don't know how to pray for her and see what is really going on in her life, but I want to be open to seeing what you see in her. I want to pray for forgiveness and restoration in her life.

Are you fixing your eyes on the puny things of the earth, while there is more to see from God’s point of view?