2 Corinthians 4: When Your Perspective Changes, Your World Changes

Introduction

In Japan, the third Monday of September is Respect for the Aged Day. For this service, Yonezawa Kojo Church (米沢興譲教会) invited Hiroki Takagi to preach. He opens with a touch of humor: someone recently greeted him as a "young senior," and he heard "fit senior." He answered, "Yes, I'm fit!"

His text is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: "Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day." Paul adds that we look not at the things which are seen but at those which are not seen, "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

The title of the message fits in one sentence: when your perspective changes, your world changes. And Hiroki Takagi sums up the point like this: fix your eyes on what cannot be seen. Then he states plainly: "Your life is going to change. There is no one whose life does not change."

Message Outline

1. Learning to See Differently

• The preacher starts from a manga adapted into an animated series and a stage play, Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi. The hero is a high school student who smokes and drinks, yet does brilliantly at school. He hangs out with his friends and finds his life tasteless.
• One day, a painting in the art room stops him in his tracks. He joins the art club and sets his sights on the Tokyo University of the Arts.
• As he draws, his way of seeing changes. He notices what passersby are wearing, the rust at the base of a sign. What he used to find ugly becomes beautiful. His whole view of the world shifts.
• Hiroki Takagi applies this to faith: God created the heavens and the earth, and what he made is good. When you look with that kind of vision, nothing is useless.
• The hero tries to paint his subject so that it looks beautiful from every angle, to make visible what exists without being seen, and to express what happens on the inside: the "chemistry" of relationships, the inner conflicts that words struggle to capture.
• In the church lobby, a brother grows flowers that are white in the morning and turn pink in the evening. "It's not magic," the pastor smiles: you only have to stay until evening to see the change.

2. Your Perspective Changes the Attitude of Your Heart

• The preacher talks about three "C"s: change, chance, challenge. When your perspective changes, your attitude changes. When your attitude changes, your thinking changes. When your thinking changes, your actions change. And when your actions change, your life changes.
• Times change, and so do circumstances. But the Word of God does not change, and it gives you a peace you can stand on.
• The verb translated "we don’t faint" can also be rendered "we don't let ourselves be crushed." Memory and physical and mental strength may fade, but spiritual strength is never lost. Paul lives this in the way of Galatians 2:20: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
• Roman society judged everything by visible results and chased perfection, as ours does. But human beings eventually run into their limits. God uses those limits to turn our eyes toward him and restore the lost relationship.
• The inner person is not renewed by our efforts. It is the Spirit of God who opens the eyes of the heart and renews it.

3. Paul's Weakness, the Place of Grace

• Paul writes these lines from a very harsh reality: imprisoned, beaten many times, in danger of death, his body worn out. He is criticized, and people even say he speaks poorly. His authority is torn to pieces, and he goes through deep inner suffering and loneliness. Yet he keeps proclaiming the gospel.
• He also carries a "thorn in the flesh." The preacher mentions a physical disability, perhaps an eye disease, or epilepsy according to some. Some people stumbled when they saw him in that condition.
• Paul prayed three times to be delivered from it. God answered him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
• That is why he does not lose heart. The grace received through that thorn is greater than the thorn itself. His words come out of his life, not out of a theory.

4. Your Thinking Changes Your Interpretation

• Hiroki Takagi himself leads seminars and training sessions. He quotes a trainer who was asked to say in one word what made his own teacher remarkable. He could have answered, "He is an excellent trainer." His answer was different: this teacher receives this evaluation from his clients, "We are convinced of the value of this training."
• He quotes Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic (formerly National). He had two excellent employees. Customers told the first, "You are excellent." They told the second, "Matsushita's company has many people like you, and Matsushita Electric is remarkable." It was the second who went on to a great career. The first put his ego forward.
• The pastor admits that he, too, likes to be told his preaching was good. But God tells you that you have value, and through each one of you, others can discover that God is wonderful.
• When your thinking changes, your interpretation changes. The past cannot be altered, but it has shaped you, failures included. For God, nothing is lost. Instead of saying "I should have done it differently," ask yourself what you received through that moment.
• The future is not here yet, but a treasure is hidden in it. The way you think steers your future.

5. From the Hair Salon to an Act of Faith

• At a conference, the head of a large company tells a room of executives aged 60 to 80: "If you want to change your life, change your head." The pastor understands: change the way you think. Then the speaker asks who gets their hair cut at the barber. Almost every hand goes up.
• His advice: from now on, go to a highly rated hair salon instead, ask for the manager or the best stylist, and say just one sentence to them: "I trust you." If you can say that, your company's results will improve.
• The pastor has told this story several times. A brother from the church, who runs an electrical company, went to a salon right away. He came back blond. From behind, people wondered which foreigner had come to the service.
• When the pastor complimented him, this brother answered, "God is behind me, so everything is fine. I live as God's work." He did not just think about it, he acted. Despite trials and weakening legs, his inner person is full of life.

6. Faith That Changes Prayer

• Hebrews 11:1 defines faith: "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen." What you hope for is already in you by faith, and your everyday life becomes the place where you see it confirmed.
• A sister from the church, who had just accompanied her mother as she went to be with the Lord at 104, had suffered from back pain for a long time. She prayed, "Heal my back, take away the pain." Nothing changed, and she wondered why God did not hear her. God was answering, but with silence.
• She sensed that the Spirit was at work in her, and her prayer changed: "Lord, you know everything, you know the pain in my back. I believe you have already healed and restored me, and I thank you." Her back was healed, and she told the story with joy.
• Build good habits of thought: over time, good words come out on their own. You are influenced by people and your environment, but what should influence you most is the Bible, God's love letter. Even if you don't understand everything, stay in contact with it: that is staying in contact with God.
• Some Christians wear a "WWJD" bracelet: what would Jesus do? The Bible shows Jesus in all kinds of situations, praying alone, praying boldly, feeding five thousand people with a boy's bread and two fish. Beyond the bread, it was hearts that were satisfied by the word of life.

7. Looking at Life from Eternity

• Hiroki Takagi distinguishes two ways of seeing: looking at death from life, or looking at life from death. He quotes Takeshi Yoro, a great insect enthusiast who was diagnosed with lung cancer and given a guarded prognosis. He considered it normal to fall ill and keeps preparing his specimens, because many insects remain to be discovered and it is his mission to make them known.
• Instead of asking yourself "what if it happens?", do what you can. Look at your present from eternity and fully live the life you have been given now.
• Physical death touches everyone, but it is neither an end nor a destruction. On earth, we are strangers and pilgrims. Death is the return to the homeland of the soul, where eternal life with God begins.
• "Doesn't that make you glad?" In heaven, you will meet again the elders in the faith, even those you never knew. The pastor even imagines a flag at the entrance of heaven: "Yonezawa Kojo Church, this way!" And the words waiting for you will be: "Welcome home, we've been waiting for you."
• Shortly before, the pastor attended a grandparents' day at his grandchild's school. The children presented their drawings and their classmates pointed out their good qualities. A child with autism in the class, beaming, walked back to his grandmother's seat calling out in his own way, "I'm home!" The whole room laughed, and the pastor felt wrapped in warmth. That is the welcome God has in store for his own.
• Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it: God makes everything good in its time, and he has put eternity in the human heart. The faces of believers as they depart, even in suffering, are wrapped in the peace of God.

Key Takeaways

• When your perspective changes, your attitude, your thinking, your actions, and ultimately your life change.
• The outer person wears out, but the Spirit of God renews the inner person day after day, at any age.
• Weakness is not an obstacle for God: his grace is sufficient for you and his power is made perfect in weakness.
• Your past, failures included, is not lost to God. Look for what you received in it rather than what you should have done.
• For the believer, death is not an end: it is the return home, where God says "welcome."

Personal Application

• What are you looking at most right now: the visible results, or what God is doing invisibly in you?
• Which failure from your past could you reread by asking yourself, "What has God given me through this?"
• Is there a prayer you have been repeating for a long time that you could turn into a prayer of trust and thanksgiving?
• How can you stay in contact with the Bible this week, even a few minutes a day, even without understanding everything?
• If you looked at your life from eternity, what would you do today with the strength you have?

Verses Cited

• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
• Galatians 2:20
• 2 Corinthians 11:23-27
• 2 Corinthians 10:10
• 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
• Hebrews 11:1
• John 6:9-13
• Hebrews 11:13
• Ecclesiastes 3:11

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "our inward person is renewed day by day" mean?

In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul acknowledges that his body is wearing out: prisons, beatings, illness, criticism. But on the inside, something is growing. For Hiroki Takagi, this renewal is not the fruit of our efforts: it is the Spirit of God who renews the inner person, even when physical and mental strength decline.

How do you fix your eyes on the things that are unseen?

The preacher suggests staying in contact with the Bible, God's love letter, even when you don't understand everything. Staying in contact with the Word is staying in contact with God. Little by little, the way you think changes, then your words, your actions, and finally your whole life.

Why is death not an end for a Christian?

For Hiroki Takagi, physical death touches everyone, but it is neither an end nor a destruction: it is the return to the homeland of the soul. Someone who looks at their life from eternity can fully live the present and wait for the day when God will say to them: "Welcome home."