“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
Out of all the characters in the Bible, Paul… our beloved disciple is the CHARACTER of all characters.Obviously, Peter takes the cake when it comes to foot in mouth disease, but Paul… HE HAS GUTS. This guy was willing to stand up to anyone for the gospel’s sake. He even here challenges us all with the description of his own trials with this description, “OUR LIGHT AFFLICTION.” Upon first reading this I was floored if Paul’s trials are light than what are mine? What are yours? Later on, in this book Paul describes his trials:
2 Corinthians 11:23-30 23 Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
How could someone going through all this call it “light affliction?” Did Paul discover a secret, a principle that you and I would be blessed by? He says further into the verse that our afflictions are “working for us.” The trials we face, the struggles we endure, are honing us, preparing us and teaches us for all that awaits us on into HEAVEN.
James Packer in his book “Your Father Loves You,” has a revealing excerpt on HEAVEN: “We know very little about heaven, but I once heard a theologian describe it as “an unknown region with a well-known inhabitant,” and there is not a better way to think of it than that.
Richard Baxter expresses the thought in these lines:
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim,
But it’s enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us.
May God give you understanding and knowledge to grow ever closer to Him and may His joy fill your heart and mind today.
By His Spirit,
Pastor Bill