Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.Paul was a realist. When he wrote this letter he was probably in his mid-fifties. His step was not as quick as it had been, he did not see as well as he had, and his hair was not as thick as when he was a youth. He would have agreed with the words of Job:
"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,We are but jars of clay designed to contain God himself. And these human containers are wasting away as iron is eaten by rust and cloth by moths. But Paul knew that we who have placed our faith in our risen Lord have became a new creation whose inner person is now an eternal being. This new inner person is not wasting away, but on the contrary is "being renewed day by day," not by activity but by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, regardless of the condition of our clay pot. So what happens to the clay pot ceases to matter.
and they come to an end...."
Do you not know?Paul also was encouraged because he understood that "...momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison...." Notice how he contrasts the terms eternal and momentary, weight and lightness, glory and affliction. The trials were producing eternal glory. Paul is describing an imaginary set of scales with his afflictions on one side and the glory to come on the other; he is seeking to understand life from God's point of view, to look over God's shoulder, as it were, and view the spiritual realities behind his present circumstances. The apostle and his companions had experienced afflictions, perplexities, persecutions, trauma, hardship, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, and shipwrecks; and to Paul was added a thorn in the flesh. But all of these were achieving "an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." On the imaginary scales the glory to come far outweighs all the afflictions.
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
If we died with him,Revelation 3:11 says, "I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God...."
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him."
The promises of Scripture may very roughly be reduced to five heads. It has promised, firstly, that we shall be with Christ; secondly, that we shall be like him; thirdly, that we shall have glory; fourthly, that we shall, in some sense, be fed or feasted or entertained; and finally, that we shall have some sort of official position in the universe---ruling cities, judging angels, being pillars of God's temple.
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.Here Paul tells the Corinthians three basic truths to help them not to lose heart and become discouraged in their immediate stressful and troubled circumstances. Paul is recalling, first, that we are aliens on this earth following in the footsteps of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. He has just talked about how we are eternal beings living on this earth as "clay pots" to contain the risen life of Christ. Now as a tentmaker himself he wants the Corinthians to see that in light of eternity these clay pots are also tents that we use to camp out in until we are called home to be with our Lord.
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord---for we walk by faith, not by sight---we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.Our risen Lord Jesus is present and reigns in our hearts; the Holy Spirit lives within us. And though we sense that our body is wasting away, yet in this time of tenting we live by faith, not by sight. Faith is the key to Christianity. All the saints of the past had to live in their tents as we are now doing. Hebrews 11:9-10 says, "By faith [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Jesus promised his disciples, and us as well, that although we have to tent on earth for a season and thus be away from his visible presence, by faith we are certain that we will one day see him face-to-face. That is why Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you...I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
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