Not Home Yet: Huge Small Problems

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Listen to how Paul describes some of his “light and momentary” troubles later in this same letter to the Christians in Corinth (11:23-29):

nothome_350“I have . . . been flogged . . . severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.”

“I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.”

“I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?”

Think: What kind of eternal glory could possibly outweigh troubles like that? (Tune in the rest of this week to find out!)

Pray: Thank God that our troubles—whatever they are—last for just a moment when compared with eternity in heaven.

Do: Make a quick list of some of your own light and momentary troubles in preparation for comparing them with “eternal glory” over the next few days.