Devotionals

Does God Focus on the Eternal or Temporal?

by Michael Edwards 
08/01/26
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My child, where are your eyes? Are they fixed on what you can see, or are they fixed on what I have declared to be true? Too often you measure yourself by your recent failures, your struggles with the flesh, and your imperfect obedience. But I call you to see yourself as I see you—not through the lens of the temporal, but through the finished work of My Son.

I have told you:

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7, NASB)

Faith believes My Word above your emotions. Faith agrees with Me even when your experience seems to say otherwise. Sight tells you that you are weak. Faith tells you that My grace is sufficient. Sight reminds you of your failures. Faith reminds you that Christ has already paid for them.

Do not become consumed with what is temporary. Your flesh is temporary. Your struggles are temporary. Even your suffering is temporary.

"While we look not at what is seen, but at what is unseen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18, NASB)

I have always called My people to focus on what lasts forever.

When I look upon you, I do not see someone striving to earn My acceptance. I see My child clothed in the righteousness of My Son.

I have declared:

"...and in Him you have been made complete..." (Colossians 2:10, NASB)

You are not trying to become complete. In Christ, you are complete.

I have also said:

"For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14, NASB)

The sacrifice of Jesus did not provide a partial salvation that depends upon your performance. His sacrifice perfectly accomplished what you never could.

Remember who you are because of Him.

You have been justified.

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1, NASB)

You have been forgiven.

"...having forgiven us all our transgressions." (Colossians 2:13, NASB)

You have become My righteousness in Christ.

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB)

You have been chosen to be holy and blameless before Me.

"...that we would be holy and blameless before Him." (Ephesians 1:4, NASB)

Why then do you spend so much time looking at what I have already dealt with?

Did I not tell you that your old self was crucified with Christ?

"Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin." (Romans 6:6, NASB)

Did My servant Paul not declare:

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..." (Galatians 2:20, NASB)

If I say your old self was crucified with Christ, do not continue to define yourself by the life I have declared dead. The flesh still opposes My Spirit while you live in this world, but it is no longer your identity. Your identity is found in My Son.

I see what you cannot yet fully see because I am not bound by time.

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done..." (Isaiah 46:10, NASB)

I already see the completed work of redemption. I see you as Mine, accepted, redeemed, justified, sanctified, and forever united with Christ. These are not wishes or possibilities. They are My promises. And because "it is impossible for God to lie" (Hebrews 6:18, NASB), you can rest in every one of them.

So stop living by sight. Stop allowing your failures to speak louder than My Word. Agree with what I have declared. Set your mind on the eternal instead of the temporal. Let your faith rest in My finished work rather than your unfinished performance.

Keep your eyes on My Son. There you will find your peace, your assurance, your identity, and your hope. Walk by faith today, knowing that I am completing what I have begun and that nothing can separate you from My love in Christ Jesus.

Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross. And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." Luke 22:20