What I’ve Been Through!
Over the past few weeks, we have seen natural disasters ravage people's lives. Fires and floods have destroyed homes, possessions and years of family memories. Life can wear you down, and certainly Paul could attest to that by virtue of the trials he experienced in his life. He suffered beatings, homelessness, sleeplessness, hunger, abandonment, being let down, lied on, ridiculed, jailed and shipwrecked. But he viewed these things as temporary sufferings in light of what he was certain that he had in eternal glory. So he did not lose heart or give up hope when he encountered troubles in this life. And so he urged his readers (2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:10) to keep their focus and hope on what is eternal and not be deterred by what is ultimately only temporary in the grand scheme of eternity. I pray that God will keep you, and that your current trials will amount to nothing more than a footnote in your journey to eternal glory.
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, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18) Paul acknowledged a fact, that as life and suffering takes its toll, our physical bodies begin to fail. But for the Christian, God uses the trials and suffering that we go through to bless and renew us spiritually (inwardly) day by day. So that even as we are wearing out physically, we don't lose our hope. Our ultimate hope is to be with God eternally, and Paul tells us not to lose sight of that in the midst of our daily living. How do we hold on to our hope in God and not lose heart through the trials of life? Paul suggests that we should put our trials into context. He imagines balancing scales, and says that the troubles that we are encountering now would weigh little ("be light") on the scales when compared to the glory we will receive in eternity. The scales would tip heavily in favor of our future glory. As a result, we should view our trials through the lens of the eternal, knowing they are but momentary. Even in the midst of our most difficult struggles, God is our hope. We may give out...but we don't give up!
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Cor. 5:1-4) Paul speaks further regarding the temporary and the eternal. He says our earthly bodies are like tents (temporary). And if they are destroyed (we die), we have everlasting bodies that God has made for us (see 1 Cor. 15: 53-54). Paul says that we will receive new eternal bodies and not be naked (spirits only; without bodies). As we live life here on earth, we experience troubles (we groan) as we long to be with God (shedding these perishable/mortal bodies and clothed with imperishable/eternal heavenly bodies). We groan when we consider the limitations of our current bodies and circumstances, knowing that God has something better waiting for us.
Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor. 5:5-10) God wants us to be with Him. He is preparing us, through our trials, for our eternal destiny. And He has given us His Holy Spirit as a deposit on His promise that we will be with Him. That gives us confidence in our hope to be with Him eternally and sustains us through our trials. And even though we would prefer to be with God and away from the troubles of this life, whether we are here on earth (in the body) or in heaven (away from it), our goal is always to please God. Christ will ultimately judge whether we have lived lives pleasing to God. I have the assurance that I am saved, and in turn, my goal is to live a life that pleases God. Pleasing Him has eternal consequences and it is the way I show my gratitude for His grace.
We know that our time here on earth will one day come to an end. Many of the things that we put so much energy into and assign so much value to will only prove to be temporal They will have no value in eternity. Instead, Paul exhorted us to set our sights on the eternal. In the context of eternity, our troubles are temporary. We struggle with the trials and tribulations of life, sometimes to the point where we groan to be with God where sin and wickedness will "cease from troubling". That time will come, but in the meantime, we take heart in the fact that our hope in being with Him is assured. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a foretaste of what God has promised. And so with that, we don't lose heart in our trials. We move forward with our lives. And we continue to live our lives for God and in such a way that pleases Him...even through our trials. He is using our trials to prepare us for our destiny. And soon enough, the day will come when God will clothe you in something new, immortal and imperishable. On that day you will be able to shout "Thank You God!"… I sure don't look like what I've been through!
Blessings,
Rev. Glenn
For your listening pleasure… “You Don’t Know” by Zacardi Cortez
