A Realm That Does Not Change

There is a disconnect between faith and sight. The natural man walks by sight, trusting his senses and believing only what they tell him. But in the Christian life, the spiritual life, we should not trust our senses. Second Corinthians 5:7 tells us, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We walk not by our senses, but by faith. Faith relates us to an unseen, eternal realm that never changes. The world of the senses is always changing—it is temporary, unstable, impermanent, and unreliable. Through faith, we relate to a different world—a world of eternal realities and eternal truths. As we relate to that world by faith, we hold fast our confession without wavering.

How we respond to the pressures God permits in our lives determines whether we trust our senses or our faith. If we change our confession because of the darkness, then we are going by our senses, for in faith there is no darkness. Faith does not rely on the senses; it sees with an inner spiritual eye into a realm that does not change and it trusts a High Priest who is unchangeable. Here is what James said about this issue:

“But when he [the believer] asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1:6–8, NIV)

This passage describes the man who wavers. He started out ready to ask—believing, not doubting—but he did not hold fast without wavering. As a result, he is tossed to and fro, thrown about by the winds and waves. The remedy is to hold fast our confession without wavering.