Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 4

Today’s reading: 2 Samuel 1; 2 Corinthians 4

This passage always amazes me when I stop and think about what Paul is saying. In one breath he tells the Corinthians, “ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” and then in the next breath he refers to these things as, “light momentary affliction.” Especially when you know the kinds of experiences Paul is referring to when he says they were afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, to call them light and momentary afflictions makes it seem like Paul has lost his mind.

But this is one of the incredible truths of the Christian life. Paul can say this because, “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 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.” It was not that Paul was a tougher man than the rest, or that he had a particularly hearty constitution that he could bear up under all these things, but that he had something else he was looking forward to that dwarfed even the worst of temporal experiences.

This is really a daily experience, only on a much smaller scale. You go to work and endure the time you have to spend there, but it is worth it because you know that it provides you with the money for food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, etc. Or you want to enjoy your favorite meal so it is worth the time and effort it takes me prepare the ingredients and cook it. Maybe you want to be able to sit and relax in your garden so weeding and maintaining it is worth the eventual payoff. The more you want the end result, the more you are willing to suffer and endure on your way to achieving that end result.

For Paul, looking forward to our promised reward in eternity made everything worth it. More than that, his yearning for eternity made the worst of circumstances nothing more than “light momentary afflictions.”

The reality is that the more we understand of what God is taking us to in Heaven, the more our own outlook on our circumstances will reflect Paul’s. It is not that Paul was just a more robust and positive person than the rest of us, it is that Paul was so deeply convinced of the reality of the God he served and the reality of his future with God, that every bit of suffering and struggle leading up to that was nothing compared to the glory that was waiting for him.