{"id":38829,"date":"2019-03-17T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/"},"modified":"2019-03-17T15:22:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T15:22:00","slug":"how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/","title":{"rendered":"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reflecting upon Paul&rsquo;s words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, author\/pastor Matthew McCullough asks, &ldquo;How do we see what is invisible more clearly than what&rsquo;s so painfully visible?&rdquo; As an answer, he offers the following:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Paul&rsquo;s argument reminds me of a negative-space portrait, where what <em>is <\/em>there is meant to draw attention to what is <em>not <\/em>there. What is visible helps you see what is invisible. Think of the FedEx logo, where the space between the E and X creates an arrow pointing forward. Or think of the NBC logo, where the pads of color outline the body of the famous peacock. It&rsquo;s like Paul is saying, you want to see what is not visible? Look at what is visible. Pay attention to where it stops short, runs out, dries up. Trace the limits of what you can see, the transient things always passing away, and there you will start to see the shape of the invisible glory still to come.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-source\"> <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3424,3478,3901,3902,3915,3933,4278,4382,4907,4908,5046,5241,5242,5303],"tax_ctp_topics":[396],"class_list":["post-38829","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-apologetics","tax_ctp_tags-belief","tax_ctp_tags-evidence","tax_ctp_tags-evidence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-existence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-faith","tax_ctp_tags-invisible","tax_ctp_tags-logic","tax_ctp_tags-seeking-god","tax_ctp_tags-seen-unseen","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-visible-invisible","tax_ctp_tags-vision","tax_ctp_tags-worldview"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reflecting upon Paul&rsquo;s words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, author\/pastor Matthew McCullough asks, &ldquo;How do we see what is invisible more clearly than what&rsquo;s so painfully visible?&rdquo; As an answer, he offers the following: Paul&rsquo;s argument reminds me of a negative-space portrait, where what is there is meant to draw attention to what is not there. Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/\",\"name\":\"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-17T15:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-17T15:22:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/how-looking-at-visible-helps-us-to-see-invisible\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Looking at the Visible Helps Us to See the Invisible - CT Pastors","og_description":"Reflecting upon Paul&rsquo;s words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, author\/pastor Matthew McCullough asks, &ldquo;How do we see what is invisible more clearly than what&rsquo;s so painfully visible?&rdquo; As an answer, he offers the following: Paul&rsquo;s argument reminds me of a negative-space portrait, where what is there is meant to draw attention to what is not there. 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