Monday, December 9, 2013

DON'T GIVE UP

For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself]. Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. - 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, AMP 
            Your afflictions have two important factors: 1) It is not about you. God will use you to minister to someone else about the same burdens that you are enduring right now. 2) Your burdens, no matter how difficult, are for the glory of God, that His excellencies may be revealed in your life. As I read the above scripture, I’m thankful to God for the Apostle Paul’s ministry. I’m thankful for his obedience and honesty about his sufferings. Sometimes I wonder what if Paul would have given up or returned back to his old life because the road got rough. Paul always talked about his sufferings as a Christian and how he endured. In the scripture, the first words say, “We do not want you to be uninformed.” He is showing us that in this Christian walk you will face affliction and oppressing distress. You will feel like giving up because you feel defeated and crushed in your spirit. He says that they “felt within that they had received the very sentence of death.” He obviously felt that at some point it was so bad that they thought they were going to die. But the next verse says, “but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.” Has it ever gotten so bad in your life that you had nowhere else to turn except to God? Has it ever been so terrible that your family, friends, or church couldn’t even help you? Well, Paul is saying, it was this way for Him that he may learn to trust and depend on God alone.
            Many times, we go through things in life failing to realize that it is not about us. However, it is all about Christ. If you’ll take the time to read about Paul’s sufferings, it will amaze you. He endured some horrible things but only by the grace of God. Through his sufferings, he learned to trust and depend on God, not people. Sometimes God will allow us to go through a season of loss or suffering to teach us to be totally dependent on Him. In the midst of that, we cannot give up. We cannot lose hope and faint. If we do, how can we minister to others that are suffering? You need to endure patiently until God delivers you. As a result, you can minister to someone else about how the Lord has delivered you and will also deliver them. Paul says, “If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:6-7, NIV) What Paul is saying is that he suffered that we may have comfort and salvation. He knew it was not all about Him. Furthermore, the Bible says that God is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). The same way that God comforts us in our sufferings, we in turn can comfort someone else in their time of suffering.
            It’s easy to become depressed and internalize every issue in our lives.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 4:7-10). That treasure we have in this earthen vessel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message of salvation, hope, and eternal life. We carry that precious treasure whether we are afflicted or not. We are expected to continue on whether hurting or not.
            Stand on this: Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Be Blessed