"For we live by faith, not by sight." — 2 Corinthians 5:7

I sit down and write this on September 8, 2025. Ten days before my 24th birthday.

This phase of life is super weird. Hurry up…and wait. Almost…but not yet. Like I’m existing between two points on a timeline. 

When will I get married? When will I move out of my parent’s house? What’s next in my career? When will I have kids?

I don’t have answers to any of these questions. The future is unclear. There’s nothing in sight. 

This makes me really uncomfortable. I want to live by sight. I want all those questions with tangible results to be marked on my calendar. And because I can’t do that, I struggle to understand the value of this time in my life. If I’m not growing, changing, advancing in a way that’s measurable, what do I have to live by?

But in his entire letter of 2 Corinthians, Paul is explaining to the people of Corinth that living by what’s measurable—by sight—is in complete opposition to how God is calling us to live—by faith.

This makes me really uncomfortable, too. I want to live by my plans, my control. But I don’t even have plans, and I definitely don’t have control. So why am I clinging to my plans when I don’t even have them? Because no matter how many times I’m told that God is in control, and without him I’m nothing and can do nothing, the tangibles of the world still tempt me. And right now, I would rather make mistakes in an attempt to live by sight than humble myself and find out what it actually means to live by faith.

So I’m not at all here to tell you how to live by faith. But what I am here to tell you is that living by sight is not working for me. I’m living in envy of the people around me who have what I want. I’m invalidating the accomplishments I do achieve and the blessings I do have when they’re not exactly what I pictured. I realize and regret that I’ve been wasting this time in my life when I’m young and free and unfettered—all because I’m trying to measure the value of my life and of myself on what I see and want to see on earth.

Maybe this is you too. Maybe you feel this way about some of the things in your life. Maybe you’ve been trying and failing at living by sight—trying to make things happen instead of trusting that God is working them out. Maybe you’ve been looking past the good that’s already yours right now. Maybe, just maybe you want to try to live by faith. That’s exactly what God is inviting you (and me) to do. Trust that there’s freedom in humbly admitting that you’re not in control. Trust that his timeline for your life is already set. Trust that his plans for you are good, even if you can’t see them yet. Don’t you want that freedom and peace? I do. I really do want to live by faith and not by sight. I’m not there yet, but I’m committed to telling myself this truth all month long, studying what it means, and asking God to help me live it out.

P.S. Maybe forward this to a twenty-something, because chances are they feel this way too.

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