I remember watching a rerun of a football game in which I was profoundly interested in the outcome, but I had no anxiety while watching it the second time around. Why? I already knew how it ended.
In our walk with the Lord, we already know the last chapter. We know the outcome. We know that we have the victory.
On Earth, we don’t fight for victory; we fight from victory.
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." -1 Corinthians 15:58
We know that every person will live forever. We know that there are two very different eternal destinations and judgments for those who believe and those who don’t.
And because believers know what the last chapter looks like, we can navigate a world with the two realities described in Scripture: what is seen and what is unseen.
There is a physical seen reality that every human understands. A world of touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste. A world we experience every day. But the Bible tells us about another reality in the unseen world that is to be the guiding reality, but—at the present—cannot be seen or felt.
When I am captured by Christ, my life is opened up to this whole new unseen reality that I have never been exposed to before. The baby Christian as well as the mature Christian are constantly reminded by Scripture that we are to walk by faith and not by sight because there is a reality that we cannot see.
"'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived' the things God has prepared for those who love him ... .” –1 Corinthians 2:9
Because we cannot see and do not know what is really around us every moment, we must step out into God’s truth by faith—trusting that what He says is true.
This is exactly how Paul lived and followed God’s lead.
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:17-18
The question is, do I believe this? Do I really walk by faith and not sight?
We must become more committed to living God’s way than man’s way. We must live differently because we have a different reality.
We will be called out, cursed, and hated. But we can still obey because we have a different reality than the one of this Earth.
We may not see the results of our lives here, but if we obey the Word of God, He has promised His presence and His blessing forever.