While I want this article to focus on victory in the long view, to do so, we need to understand the challenges we face when focusing too much on the short view. For us, right now, the short view is a mess. Well, frankly, it’s always a mess.

If you’re someone who sincerely believes in God, then it is likely you invest quite a bit of time and effort in trying to gauge whether or not you are pleasing to Him. When trying to evaluate our relationship with God or the rightness or wrongness of decisions we’ve made, we tend to focus on the short view. In other words, what were the immediate results or consequences that followed?

It’s not an unusual way to measure ourselves. Most of us were nurtured in a punishment/reward system, and we tend to pattern our activity based on the immediate feedback of success or failure. There is some level of familiarity and even inspiration in the “do A, get B” punishment/reward formula. To a large extent, the Old Testament is based on that formula. If Israel obeyed, God blessed. If they disobeyed, God punished.

However, that formula doesn’t always work, especially as we live in the era of New Testament grace and freedom. Sometimes we do the right thing, but instead of getting the reward we were looking for, we end up with defeat or suffering or a mess. Every time our short view formula breaks down, we begin questioning our relationship with God. Did I fail Him? Is He punishing me? When there is a string of breakdowns, we begin wondering if God loves us at all, or worse — does He even exist. The short view can be brutal.

And here’s another struggle. We tend to focus on the times we did the right thing, but the outcome didn’t go our way. We overlook the multiplied times we didn’t do the right thing, yet we still received a blessing. It’s called grace — and it is being poured out on us constantly. Is our selfishness causing us to miss it?

Jesus is our High Priest and Mediator because He is familiar with our short view struggles (Hebrews 4:15). He truly understands. Psalm 42 reflects the short view struggle, “I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” The same can be said of the story of Job, and of Joseph. For both, the short view was awful.

But we don’t need to look back to ancient times to find examples of believers suffering in the short view. Imagine the anxiety and fear and confusion persecuted Christians suffer today if they focus on the short view.

And friends, we have all watched dear brothers and sisters in Christ as they have suffered life-ending or life-altering crises. We all have suffered. In every short view loss, the Tempter is always eager to defeat us by convincing us God doesn’t care, doesn’t notice, or doesn’t even exist.

Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego found victory in the long view (Daniel 3). When threatened with death in the fiery furnace for refusing to worship a golden idol, they responded, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” They displayed victory in the long view.

Conditions on the ground are always changing, and because we live in a broken world, the conditions are generally not good and getting worse. We know this about the world. Life is an uphill battle against disorder, erosion, decay, and death – and the moment we stop moving against those forces; they take over. Jesus clearly warned us that we would have trouble in this world. If we build our understanding on the shifting conditions of the short view, we will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27). Remember, the rain and floods also hit the man who built his house on the rock. In the short view, the floods hit both. But the man who built his house on the rock, on the long view, withstood the crisis and experienced victory.
So how do we live in the long view?

First, know Who you belong to and who you are. You are a child of God (John 1:12) and dearly loved by Him (John 3:16) and bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20). Your name is written in heaven (Luke 10:20). You are the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5 and Revelation 19) and a new creation (I Corinthians 5:17). You are chosen, a member of the royal priesthood, and a special possession belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9). You are God’s temple, and His Spirit lives in you (I Corinthians 3:16) and is fully gifting you (I Corinthians 12) to accomplish the divine purposes God has designed specifically for you (Ephesians 2:10). You belong to the most powerful Body on the face of the earth, the Church (Matthew 16:18), of whom Jesus Christ is the Head (Colossians 1:18). You have already received more blessings than you could earn in ten lifetimes! So, stop living under the “do A, get B” formula and start living in the “got B, do A” formula! God has already given us immeasurably more than we could ever ask for or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). In response, we will joyfully serve Him with all of heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27) regardless of short-term outcomes! When we live in the right formula, we experience victory in the long view!

Second, live in the freedom of victory. Break the bondage of the short view by living in the full freedom of the long view — eternity! Adopt Paul’s perspective found in Philippians 3:12-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” God has already given us the end of the story. We know the outcome! Victory is ours! Read Revelation 21 and 22 again and again and keep your eyes on the prize.

Third, know that this world is not your home. Don’t evaluate anything in the day-to-day. Instead, remember that our lives are very short when viewed through the lens of eternity. Jesus commanded us to invest in eternity. In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If your heart is in this world, then you are too heavily invested in the short view — and you are suffering because of it. When you begin investing in your eternal home, the fear found in the short view will evaporate.

Fourth, know what is being prepared for you. Jesus is preparing a place for you (John 14:13). It is the place your spirit longs for because it was designed to live forever in the holy presence of God. This broken world makes no sense to the believer. Disorder, erosion, decay, and death are foreign concepts to those who have eternal life and walk in the light of God’s Word and Spirit. Instead of trying to make sense out of the mess experienced in the short view, overcome it by looking ahead to your eternal home. Jesus clearly warned us about the short view. In John 16, He describes in detail the troubles we will face in this world. But at the end of the chapter, He declares victoriously, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

My friends, we are living in troubled days. The short view is not good. But for the believer who remains focused on the long view, nothing has changed. We are victorious. Now, let’s live like it!