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Articles
A PERSPECTIVE FOR PERSEVERANCE
A PERSPECTIVE FOR PERSEVERANCE
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8-9).
We all experience troubles in this life. Paul experienced much that might have disheartened him. But he courageously pressed on. What enabled the apostle not only to endure the sufferings of today, but also to be sustained for the opportunities of tomorrow?
His answer is, “We do not lose heart…we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). It’s a matter of perspective—how we view our lives.
Our inner man is being renewed day by day (v. 16). We are made in God’s image. The outer man is the physical. And it is decaying. It is returning to the dust from which it came. From the moment of birth, our days are numbered and they are short. If we think the outer man is all there is, the realization of the destruction of the body can be hard to accept.
There is something other than the outward, physical, flesh-and-bones body that we inhabit. Paul knew that while the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed and reinvigorated daily. The prime concern for each one of us should be the soul and not the body. “What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26).
Our afflictions are momentary and light (v. 17). How could a man who had endured all that Paul did, look at his troubles and call them light? He was not trying to minimize them or deceive other disciples to keep them from being discouraged or fearful. He did not mean they were few (see 2 Cor. 11:23-28). He knew persecution both as persecutor and persecuted. From the time he was converted to Christ, opposition began quickly and followed him constantly.
Rather, he viewed all his afflictions in view of eternity. They were light in comparison to the weight of glory to come. His sufferings were severe and long lasting, but they were nothing compared to an eternity with God. It was a matter of perspective.
The unseen things are eternal (v. 18). It all depends on where we look. If we fail to be ever looking unto Jesus, we will inevitably go astray. Don’t take your eyes off the goal.
Paradoxically, we cannot see the things of eternity, and yet those are the things at which we must look. Paul is not unmindful of the physical world and the material things around him. His point is that he is doing what he pleaded with other brethren to do: “set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).
This was Paul’s worldview. Rather than using the problems of this life as justification to reject God, let them be reminders of the inadequacies of the temporal and to live in view of the eternal. This world, even at its best, is inadequate for the soul.
Dan Petty
