The Folly Of Shortsightedness

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

— 2 Corinthians 5:7

Is your spiritual vision 20/20? Sadly, many of us suffer from spiritual shortsightedness. For example, Adam and Eve exhibited shortsightedness as they contemplated only the immediate delight and satisfaction that would come from eating the forbidden fruit. They didn’t consider the long-term, disastrous results.

Abraham, on the other hand, was a man of great vision. The Bible says that Abraham sought a city whose builder and maker was God. Though he passed through many of the cities of this world, he knew his long-term search would be worthwhile.

Moses is also a prime example of a man with farsighted vision. He endured seeing Him who is invisible. That takes very long vision, and God calls us to the same effort. We must look not merely upon the things we can see—short-lived, temporal things—but upon the things we cannot see—the long-term, the eternal. Yet most people spend more time planning a party than they do planning where they’ll spend eternity. How many people have told me that they’re ready to die because they’ve made out their wills and have bought their burial plots. How utterly deceived people can be. No wonder the Bible calls sin folly and the sinner a fool, because our shortsightedness is foolishness.

If God had called us to climb Mount Everest in order to gain eternal life, millions would line up to try it. But He calls us to no such arduous task as that but instead to simple trust in Christ as our Savior. Doing that humbles us because we must acknowledge our sin and our unworthiness, casting ourselves upon Him and His mercy.

Sometimes people criticize Christians for not living in “the real world.” And yet ultimately two real worlds exist: Heaven and Hell. We must focus on eternity, cultivating a long-range view on life.

“A little faith will bring your soul to heaven;
a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”
Charles Spurgeon