A Christian becomes a trader of the seen for things that are unseen. The things that may be touched for intangible things. Faith becomes our currency... the bigger the trade, the more faith involved. And not just faith for the sake of having faith. God is the entity we put faith IN. God is a Spirit, the very first trial of our faith is to believe something we can't see exists. Next step is to go further and say not only someTHING but someONE and that someone created all that we see... Then to believe He loves us and always has our best interest in mind. So to allow this to become our reality, we start to let what we can see go. If you are or know of a Christian who hasn't traded any physical eyesight for spiritual eyesight through faith in Christ, then you or that person have some growing to do.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. - 1 Corinthians 9:24,25 KJV
If we don't believe there is an incorruptible crown, why are we running.. ARE we running? If we are a Christian, but we won't trade our life for Christ, do we really want to be Christians? Christians see the value in letting the whole world go to gain Christ. The physical for the spiritual, the corruptible for the incorruptible, the temporal for the eternal. God is holding something much greater than what we are holding. The surface reason that we won't trade is because we can't see what God has with our human eyes, but the deeper reason is tat we don't trust God.
If the Pharisees and Elders of Israel would have been willing to give up what they thought was so very important, they would have welcomed Jesus with open arms and embraced him as the Messiah. Jesus even showed them things they could relate to.. physical things. But they instead chose not to trade, kept their wallet of faith closed and in the process killed the Son of God.
“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent." - John 5:36-38 NIV
Day to day as Christians we should be trading the seen for the unseen. So that when the time of things seen come to an end, and the elements are burned up with a fervent heat, what we have built up that can't be seen will be shown. With exercise these trading skills go up... your job gets easier and you realize your willingness to detach yourself from the physical is your proof of you being a pilgrim and a traveler here. The days that come and go are not a time-line for the life of a carnal being, but a footprint for an eternal spirit. A trader who always makes the maximum possible profit... a Christian.
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
- 1 Peter 1:18-25
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