What Am I Looking For?

April 27, 2020

 What are we seeing these days? It all depends on what we’re looking for. In “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle illustrates this vividly. A man has been killed, and his wife seriously injured. Sherlock Holmes is on the scene.The local constabulary, trying to piece together what happened, is holding the weapon which had apparently been dropped by the perpetrator.

“There are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired and two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for."

"So it would seem," said Holmes. "Perhaps you can account also for the bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?"He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch above the bottom.

"By George!" cried the inspector. "How ever did you see that?"

"Because I looked for it."

It is our privilege and responsibility to choose what we look for. The world is full of charlatans and sleight-of-hand artists who do their best to get us to see only what they want us to see. When it’s a magic show, it’s fun and games. When it’s politics, education, pseudo-science, or religion, it is deadly serious. 

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, St. Paul speaks of “beholding...the glory of the Lord.” That word “beholding” signifies more than a casual glance. If we aren’t looking for it; I mean diligently looking for it, we are likely to miss the glory of the Lord. Paul explains this in chapter 4, where he reminds us that part of this fallen world is the blinding veil that covers our eyes, courtesy of the god of this world (vv. 3-4). We don’t see what’s really all around us because of all the trouble and destruction brought into this world by the Enemy of our souls. We must deliberately look through the mess if we are to receive the message of grace and mercy God has for us in Jesus Christ.

Paul doesn’t minimize the troubles of this life. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not cursed, we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed (vv.8-9). These are not the words of a fanciful idealist. He literally stared down death on numerous occasions, but even so was able to triumphantly proclaim, 

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

—II Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV

Notice that little word “seen.” It all depends on what we’re looking for. Paul saw what others could not, because his gaze took in more than his immediate situation, something I need to do more of, myself. This fourth chapter is powerful truth, and I am thankful for the divine reminder to, as in the words of the old hymn, “Turn my eyes upon Jesus.”