2 Corinthians 4:13-18

13: But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “ I BELIEVED THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,
14: knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
15: For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

16: Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
17: For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
18: while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

*** 

After Paul spoke of the many afflictions the apostles suffered for their sake and the gospel’s, he said that they all had the same spirit of faith—whether apostles or not. The psalmist said in Psalm 116:10, “I believed therefore I spoke,” Paul said they also spoke what they believed, even in the midst of troubles as the psalmist was.

He then said what it was that he believed and spoke, which is that He who raised Jesus from the dead will one day raise up all believers with the Lord. All of the things they were going through—the preaching of the gospel with the opposition to it—were for their sakes, so they and many more people might come to the Lord for grace and salvation. This would cause much thanksgiving to the glory of God. Salvation is not for a select few—it's for anyone who will believe.

Paul continued by saying that even though his physical body was growing old, taking a beating, wearing out, and dying, the inner man was being renewed daily. The little temporary troubles of this life are nothing compared to the great and eternal glory of the next. There is no comparison. It will be far better.

We still do now what he says they did then—we look at the unseen—the eternal—not what we see around us which is temporary. We have eternal life now in our spirits—our inner man--the part of us that will live on after our physical death. We are being renewed daily, even while our body is growing old. We are a part of the eternal realm now because we’ve received the life of God—eternal life—when we believed. We aim to live in this physical world now while being aware of and influenced by the beautiful, eternal, spiritual realm of His kingdom which Jesus brought with Him when He came to reside in us by our faith.

 

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