Today we're continuing to talk about 2 Corinthians 4:16,
"Therefore, we do not lose heart."
We're talking about the reasons we don't need to lose heart.
Yesterday we talked about a reason in the future.
Today I want to share a reason about the present that we don't need to lose heart.
And we find that in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17
where the apostle Paul writes this. He says,
Did you notice what he called your troubles?
He called them light.
This kind of sounds like he's calling them easy.
Is that what you call your troubles?
You know, when you're faced with a situation, a hard one,
that looks overwhelming.
When you're face to face with the same temptation that got the best of you last time.
When you're in a situation that's just really troubling.
It's light. It's easy, right?
No, it's not.
And Paul's troubles weren't light and easy either.
And yet he calls our troubles light and easy
in comparison to something much bigger.
In comparison to a promise,
a very big promise,
that we get to live with in the present;
that God is using our troubles and our pain to achieve for us a far bigger glory.
I have a, my grandfather could, could build anything.
and he would also take anything apart.
If you went into his workshop or into his, one of his many barns,
you saw a jar, after jar, after jar of all the different pieces of things
he had taken apart over the course of his life.
He saved everything because he believed that every little piece had a purpose,
either in the present or maybe down the road.
Every piece had a purpose.
And God believes the same thing about your life
and, in particular, the pain and the troubles that you go through in your life.
Your pain always has a purpose.
God does not allow any piece of your life to go to waste.
There are many different ways that God uses our pain to accomplish something good.
But Paul talks about one particular reason in the verse that we read.
He uses your pain to keep your focus on the greater glory that is coming.
God knows that sometimes our hearts get a little bit too attracted
to the comforts, and the treasures, and the pleasures of this world.
And so when he sees that happening,
often he will take them away to keep our lives in perspective
so that we are reminded that heaven is our true home
and that Earth isn't.
He will often use our pain in the same way he did in the life of Job,
in the life of David,
in the life of Joseph,
in the life of the Israelites in the wilderness,
to redirect our attention back to him,
to the God who has prepared for us a great future,
to the God who never leaves us in the present,
and also the God who did something very significant with the past.
And we'll talk about that tomorrow.
We all need help navigating relationships in our lives.
That's not always an easy thing to do.
That's why I wrote this book called "Walking Together: Focused on Jesus."
It's designed to help strengthen our expressions of love toward one another
while keeping our eyes fixed and focused
on the greatest example of love this world has ever seen,
the love of our Lord Jesus.
I'd love to send you a copy of this book when you give a gift
to help 'Your Time of Grace' share the timeless truths of God's Word.
I'll see you tomorrow.
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