Let’s Keep Looking Up!

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 1 Corinthians 4:18

I was running errands when my phone rang. It was a friend who wanted to share some news. Several weeks ago, one of her friends had been given a devastating cancer diagnosis and was told he had 18 to 24 months to live. However, after visiting the doctor that week, he received the incredible news that his cancer was gone! His recovery was nothing short of a miracle from God!

My response? - Wow! Wow! Wow! Praise the Lord!

Don and I had a friend, and former pastor, Arnold Hammarberg, who dedicated his entire adult life to serving the Lord. At the age of 54, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.   Arnold was a devoted prayer warrior who had friends around the globe lifting him up in prayer. Sadly he passed away just five months after his diagnosis.  

My response? - Why, God? He was faithfully serving you. You tell us in Romans 8:28 that “All things work for the good of those who love you,” but I don’t see how that can be true in this case. Arnold's wife and three teenage children are being robbed of his influence during some of the most important years of their lives. I don’t understand!

After my non-verbal daughter Joy was diagnosed with autism, I fervently prayed for a miracle for her; however, there came a point when I became so disappointed in God that I stopped praying. I felt as if my prayers were bouncing off my bedroom ceiling, so why bother? Even in that confused state, it was a great comfort to know that others were praying not only for Joy but also for me. 

Some people believe that Christians will be healed IF they pray with faith. Is it true that our prayers for healing will be answered if we genuinely have faith? 

What does the Bible teach about this?

Paul was perhaps the greatest missionary who ever lived. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 –9, Paul writes: “I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Paul had healed others; Acts 14 recounts a moment when Paul told a man, crippled from birth, to “Stand on your feet.” No physical therapy was given for those atrophied muscles, yet the man jumped up and began to walk. 

However, when Paul prayed for his own healing, God did not heal him.

I wonder how Paul felt about that. After all, God used him to write at least 14 books of the New Testament. He knew God could heal him; so why wouldn’t he?

Paul wrote to the church in Philippi that he had discovered the secret of contentment. This leads me to wonder if these valuable lessons were drawn from the words God shared with him while he was writing a letter to the church in Corinth, where he states, “fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18.

Our friend Arnold, whom we discussed earlier, exemplified living with an eternal perspective like no one else I’ve known. His wife told me that when he left for work, he’d kiss her goodbye and say, “If I don’t come home, you know where I’ll be.” 

Whenever we visited Arnold, he would always say at goodbye time, “Let’s keep looking up.”

When he taught the scripture he’d often say, “Gaze at the Savior; Glance at the problem.”

I’m not certain which of his phrases emphasizing an eternal perspective impacted me the most, but they were all incredibly powerful.

Arnold genuinely focused on what is unseen. He had his eternal perspective down pat, and everyone who came into contact with him couldn't help but be influenced by it.

In Hebrews 11, we see ordinary people who had an eternal perspective. They were not perfect individuals. I remember being genuinely surprised by who was included in that chapter. This is a source of encouragement for me because God didn’t cast them aside for their failures. He used their shortcomings to develop them into heroes of the faith.

Hebrews 11 powerfully defines faith: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, these people had an eternal perspective.

Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, David, and Paul all faced challenges as they awaited the fulfillment of God’s promises. They understood that their greatest rewards were not found in this life but in the life to come. They had an eternal perspective.

When our daughter Joy left us, I reminded myself of what I had learned over the past 24 years of Bible study. When Joy took her last breath on earth, her next breath was celestial. She received the ultimate healing and was safely in the arms of Jesus. She was home. This eternal perspective brought me peace.

I also reminded myself that there is a day coming when I will see her again.

You can count on it.

God has promised it, and His promises bring us hope.

I can’t thank Him enough! 

As we wrap up today, I’d like to share a song that has meant a lot to me since the moment I first heard it. This poignant song, written by Steven Curtis Chapman, reflects a father's sorrow over the loss of his little girl. Steven conveys his deep conviction through the lyrics that this goodbye is merely a temporary separation. He eagerly anticipates the joyful moment when he will embrace his beloved daughter again in heaven. If you wish to join me in worship through music today, please click the button to enjoy this experience together!

With Hope

by Steven Curtis Chapman

This is not at all
How we thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams

And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say and nothing we can do
Can take away the pain, the pain of losing you

But we can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye
Is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place where we'll see you face, again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan

But through the cloud of tears
I see the father's smile and say "Well done"
And I imagine you where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home and now you're free

And we can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye
Is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place where we'll see you face, again
We'll see your face again, yeah
We'll see your face again

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true

So we can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye
Is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place by God's grace
There's a place where we'll see your face, again
We'll see your face again

So we can cry with hope
And say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope