“for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinthians  5:6

To be honest, there are times when I read from the works of St. Paul I feel he is writing to someone else.  In reality that is exactly what Paul has done.  He wrote to people in various cities who were trying to figure out their connection to God through Jesus Christ.  So, there are those moments in which Paul directs a particular message to a particular people in a particular area like Corinth, Rome, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Philippi and so on.

But there are those times when a pearl, a spark, an ember jumps out and drills deep into the soul.  Paul shares something that touches the part of the heart where only you and God knows of its existence.  And this is where each of need and should value the words written so very long ago by this man.

The other day I was floored by one of these pithy treasures.  For we walk by faith, not by sight.  In 2 Corinthians Paul reminds me that it is I who wants to be absolutely in charge of my own journey.  It is I who wants to be in control of how I view life, how I view others, how I believe, how I think and feel, how I love, how I…..  And so easily I want to leave God out of the picture because I am afraid God in Christ will ruin a good thing, that is, me in charge of me.

As attractive as this is, me being in control of my seeing the world, it gets me into trouble.  It gets us into trouble.  We are reluctant to view the universe as how God wants us to encounter and embrace that which God creates.  But where the real beauty of life, of the world of everything is through the eyes of God and not our own.

Have you ever been on a faith walk?  This is an exercise where someone ties a blindfold around the eyes, tells you to hold onto a rope, and leads you to a destination.  Initially it scares you.  You can’t see.  You are not in control.  But then you come to realize what a joy it is to have someone care so much for you  to guide to a place where it is safe.  This is what it means to walk with God and allowing God to be the eyes.  We are blessed by God in Christ to bring us that much closer to God—a safe place.

Sure there are times when this journey is tedious and uncomfortable.  It is human nature.  It is like Peter walking to Jesus on the sea only discovering he is doing the impossible and then sinking.  But what does Christ do?  Jesus reaches out, grabs the hand and helps him get back to the boat. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

May our journeys be filled with using the eyes of God to help us to walk. May we see the beauty God wants us to see through Christ.

Yours in Christ,

Father Scotty+