What should be our attitude and focus in an ever-changing, progressively evil world which hates God’s Word?
A weight of glory
16) So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17) For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18) as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:16-18
For some reason I love the phrase “the weight of glory.” It evokes something in me. And I’ve been drawn to these verses for several days. So I tweeted 2 Cor 4:17. Others must have found it a helpful reminder because they re-tweeted it.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit wanted to punctuate the message to me. The following Sunday one of the young pastors (Nick Spurgeon) at the church I attend used 2 Cor 4:16-18 as the basis of his sermon. I doubt it was a coincidence.
The Event Horizon
Spurgeon (not a descendant of Charles) mentioned watching a YouTube video of a military person’s advice regarding endurance. The following is my clumsy attempt at paraphrasing his paraphrase of the soldier.
According to the soldier – to endure – one mustn’t focus on the pain one is experiencing in the transient moment. The idea is to fix one’s attention on a Future Event Horizon when the pain will be over.
For a soldier it might be when the current training ordeal is completed. This might be true for the Christian’s transient suffering as well. However, a trial in this temporal world often (perhaps even inevitably) leads to another.
The true Christian’s Event Horizon is the Eternal Weight of Glory. That’s where my (our) focus ought to remain fixed on.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Rom 8:18-19
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
I found the following article helpful,
Hope. It’s a powerful motivator. It’s what replaces worry with calmness (Romans 15:13), despair with joy (Psalm 42:5), vacillation with perseverance (Romans 8:25), and cowardice with courage (Romans 12:12).
Our God is “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). The Gospel is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Faith is “a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) that promises to never disappoint (Romans 5:5). Out of everyone in our world, Christians should be the most hopeful – confident that our future is secured by a good and sovereign Savior…keep reading
Maranatha!
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