Thanks to technology, you and I are only seconds away from fresh knowledge about the troubles and challenges that plague mankind. Today I learn that 75 are dead in a flood in Brazil. Two are killed and four injured in a Detroit hotel fire. Oil prices are on their way up. A man is found shot to death in Atlanta. Those who killed a Salvation Army major in front of his children are still at large.

Any day’s news diet might include a story about E.-coli tainted beef in Oklahoma, inflation fears by a noted economist, or public library closures in California. This accessibility to an unending diet of troubling news can easily erode hope and foment a spirit of cynicism or pessimism about life in general.

For the apostle Paul, the tough realities were often more personal. He writes of beatings, rejection, shipwreck, slander, and hunger. Yet none of these realities crushed his hope. It flows from his letters, even those written from prison. What enabled him to maintain this kind of equilibrium? What can we learn that can bring us optimism in the face of the litany of troubling stories that come our way 24/7?

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he notes, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (See 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.) Two principles stand out from these words.

The first principle is one of perspective. Paul insists that the burdens of life are light in reference to the eternal glory that is in store for Christ-followers. That is an uncommon perspective today. We tend to compete with one another to declare that our burdens and trials are more massive than those around us. Paul, despite the hardships we know he suffered, calls them “light” in contrast to what awaits him in eternity. He also calls them “momentary.” Decades of battling cancer, living with a contentious mate, or coping with arthritis may not seem momentary. But set against eternity such trials take on a less formidable look. This perspective of now vs. eternity helps Paul find strength in Christ to endure with hope.

The second principle relates to focus. Paul chooses to fix his eyes on what is unseen, not what is seen. He pulls his eyes away from the television or Internet so that he can gaze at the hand of God in his world. There is grace that feeds over 6 billion people today. There is transformation in the lives of those who take God and his revelation seriously. There is mercy and forgiveness and love flowing from people who have been reconciled to God through Christ and who are intentionally growing in their faith. There is an approaching kingdom in which Christ rules that will supplant the feeble attempts of man to rule over his race. Paul calls these kinds of things the “unseen,” and reminds us that they are eternal.

Paul’s decision to focus on such things is instructive. It reminds us that the flawed and broken things of this world are not forever for the Christian. Those who refuse to yield to the Lordship of Christ in this life will take their brokenness into eternity, into a place of endless disappointment and pain. But for those who follow Christ, there will be a glorious absence of such things. God’s gift to those who follow his Son is a future devoid of injustice, malicious words, greed, failure, betrayal, and suffering. It’s not too early for us to fix our eyes on these unseen realities. As we do, it gives us confidence, stamina, and hope to chase after Christ and his goodness—even in troubles that touch our lives.