What does 2 Corinthians 5:7 mean?

Preaching the truth of Christ to the world has brought Paul and his co-workers much suffering. Yet they continue to strive and contend for the faith. They refuse to quit—they live with courage—because they are convinced that after they die, they will be resurrected as Christ was. They will receive glorified, eternal bodies where they will finally be free of all burdens and the groaning experienced by every living thing on earth.

As Paul sums it up in this verse, they walk—here meaning to live or make a habit—by faith and not by sight. In other words, they so thoroughly believe the gospel, including their own resurrection and eternal satisfaction, that the struggles facing them are not the most important concern. What they "see" includes death, pain, suffering, opposition and challenge. They feel the burden of those things deeply (1 Corinthians 1:8), but they count the unseen things waiting for them with Christ as more real than the suffering of the moment (2 Corinthians 4:18).