Good Morning Friends,
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 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.” (2
Corinthians 4:16-18)
“Light and momentary troubles” -- that would
be things like being stoned, being beaten with rods, being whipped 39 times,
being thrown into prison, being shipwrecked and spending a day and night in the
ocean. (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-27) Those don’t sound “light and momentary” to
me. And they aren’t, from the perspective of this life. Paul’s life on earth
wasn’t very pleasant. However, Paul’s focus wasn’t on his earthly life. Paul’s
focus was on the life that was to come. Compared to his eternal life anything
that happened on earth would be “light and momentary.”
Focusing on eternity was one of the keys to
Paul being able to endure the troubles that he faced in this life. He knew what
was important, and it wasn’t his comfort and pleasure here. What was important
was pleasing God and looking to the eternal peace, joy, and pleasure that would
be his.
That’s a hard lesson to learn because this
world is all we know and it seems so real and important. How much money I have,
what kind of job I have, whether I’m sick or well, all of those things seem so
important because this life is all I know. But this life is not all there is.
There is an eternal life awaiting us that is far more real and far more important
than anything that happens in this world.
Strive to follow Paul’s advice -- keep
looking at the eternity that is ahead. In that perspective whatever troubles
you face here are pretty minor.
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment