We all get caught up in our feelings and if you don’t please drop your secret in the comment section. When we get caught up in our emotions it’s difficult to see the road in front of us. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 the apostle Paul says, “We live by faith, not by sight.”
In other words, Paul is really saying that we are not called to walk by feelings (emotions), we are called to walk by faith.
Unfortunately, it’s very common to think that, as inspiring as the phrase sounds, walking by faith would make a person unintelligent, sheltered, and aloof. However, the truth walking by faith means being perceptive, resilient, and engaged.
On the face of it, to “walk by faith, not sight” sounds fairly unintelligent. It sounds like you’re ignoring what you can see right in front of you and trying to force yourself to believe something that probably isn’t true. In most cases when you mix in false emotions with this thought process typically the outcome is not good.
Yet far from being merely an emotional psych up, faith throughout the Bible is connected to serious-minded confidence (“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for,” Heb. 11:1, NIV) and increased knowledge (e.g., Rom. 14:1-2). As we zoom out and look at the context of Paul’s “Walk by faith, not sight” verse (2 Cor. 5:7), we see that Christian faith is based on beliefs of which “we are convinced” (2 Cor. 5:14, NIV). The verse before and the verse after 5:7 each say that “we are confident.” This is because Christian faith leads to greater bedrock confidence in the living God—and not too easily evaporated elation (excitement) over what turns out to be a mirage.
Contrary to what some think, walking by faith doesn’t mean turning off our brain, it means to be spiritually perceptive of reality as it is and to view life through this eternal perspective. It also means that we look beyond to the unchanging orbs of reality rather than trying to navigate our way through life using shifting clouds (feelings/emotions) as our point of reference.
At the end of the day, to walk by faith, not sight means to face difficulties with resilience, knowing that God uses the outward tough times we experience in life to inwardly grow Christlikeness in us (2 Cor. 4:16–18)!
4GIVEN 