THE KING’S BUSINESS
172
“decaying,” .“yet our inward >man (i. e., our spiritual and real self) is (being) renewed (made anew) day by day.” Pauls afflictions as we'read of them seem to us to have been very heavy and very long continued (see ch. 11:23-27), but Paul here says that they were “light” and “but for the moment.” He looked at them and weighed them and measured them in the light of eternity and in the balances of eternity. Paul’s estimate evidently was right, and still more, our estimate of our own afflic tions is altogether wrong. And what is this light and momentary affliction doing for 'its? It is working out something. What? “A weight of glory.” Yes, more than that, “an eternal weight of glory.” Yes, even more than that, “Exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.” Yes, even more still, “More and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory” (cf. Rom. 8:18). Well that is; worth while. Let us thank God for these “light afflictions” which are “for the moment” and bring us such an enormous return of glory. Saturday, February 9 . 2 Cor. 4 : 18 . There are two kinds of things, a man may look at, the present things which are now “seen,” the future things' which are ■“not seen” as yet. The wise man always fixes his eyes and his ambitions on the future, unseen things.. The reason why the wise man always fixes his eyes and his ambitions on the future not seen things is because the things we now see “are tem poral” (more accurately, are “for a season” cf.. Heb. 11:25). But “the. things which are not seen,” the things which are to come to us in the future, these: “are eternal,” i. e., they are unending. Who cares then for this world’s gain or loss, its plenty or its poverty, its praise or its blame, all these things are just “for a season,” a very short season on the scale of eternity. But the joy and honor and glory that awaits the faithful servant of Christ hereafter are for eternity. Why worry about war? Increasing taxation may sweep away all that we have; the appalling waste in the
to get the'connection in which the Psalmist said it, and thus to realize the appropriate ness of Paul’s quotation here). Paul also believed and therefore spoke. Happy is the man who is so full' of faith that he must speak, and who speaks only because he believes and only what he believes. In the 14th verse Paul tells us why his faith kept steady in the midst of all the suffer ings through which he was passing, and even when face to face -With death. The reason why was that he knew something that kept his faith bteady even under such trying circumstances. What he knew was this: “That He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us,up also with Jesus, and shall present us with you” (cf. Jude 24). To know that is enough to keep any one believing and witnessing in the face of any. peril and any suffering. What matters our being delivered unto death if we really know that God shall raise us up with Jesus and present us with all believers ,in glory. These words of Paul in verses 13' and 14 ought to come to the heart with a special power in these days when so many of us are facing the gravest peril and when no one can tell what sufferings we may be called upon to endure. However great those sufferings may become, even though we are face to face with death, we need not fear, we need not have the slightest anxiety: for, eVen though we die, we know “that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also with Jesus.” ’ Friday, February 8. 2 Cor. 4 : 15 - 17 . Paul assures the saints in Corinth that “all things (including his sufferings and exposure to death) are for your sdkes, i. e., for their highest interest (cf. Rom. 8:28). The purpose of all this grace which was being multiplied through the many was to “cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.” This brings Paul back to the point where he started in verse 1 , “Wherefore me faint not.” No amount of opposition, discouragement, peril, or dying makes us to grow weary or feeble. “Our outward man,” (i. e., the body) is indeed
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online