2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18 – So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For 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.

THEME OF THE DAY. GETTING A GRIP ON REAL LIFE. Life is hard. Sometimes really hard. Sometimes really, really hard. Oh, we know periods of reprieve and rest, but those periods often seem so few and far between. Vacations are nice but short; we have to come home and back to the grind. Long weekends away seem like only hours away. A quiet night at home with no pressing demands upon our persons seems so rare. And the daily pressures of our roles and responsibilities just seem to go on and on and on like that Energizer Bunny guy. They never run out, but we do. Yes, life is hard and it all started in a beautiful garden a long, long time ago – “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:14-19). Life is hard because of sin. It not only wrecked a perfect garden but it ensured we would know sorrow, suffering, pain, and no lasting rest in this world. And that leads us to today’s scripture . . .

The Apostle Paul is giving us some really sound advice on how to live life under the sun. His wise and encouraging words are designed to help frame our worldview right, and then to live it out knowing what this life is really all about. Fellow Christians, we must not expect heaven on earth. Listen to Paul. He says, “Our outer self is wasting away” (physically we hurt and feel the pain of decaying bodies each passing day). He also writes, “This light momentary affliction” (suffering is inevitable, don’t try to avoid it). We must not seek a pain-free, sorrow-less, and no suffering life this side of glory. It is a chasing after the wind; a vanity of vanity. It is like a hamster on a wheel going round and round getting nowhere. God’s curse upon the world and humans due to sin guarantees no lasting rest will exist in this world. But we can endure. And we can endure with joy providing we see life as Paul tells us; a momentary time of suffering that is designed to refine, even purge us from this world and make us more like Christ. Again, listen to Paul . . . “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” If we learn to see suffering and the realities of pain in our lives through an eternal filter with eternal purposes, we may not only endure, but prosper. It all begins with our attitude about what life is really all about this side of heaven.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the hope of heaven and the freedom from the ills of my sin and living in a fallen world.”

QUOTE: “This life is not to be one of ease and comfort. That is for another world that God has prepared for His people”