Perhaps you are in the middle of a very stressful situation, or facing hardship with no end in sight. Maybe someone has inflicted severe pain on you, or your health is failing. In the middle of difficult struggles, it’s hard to accept Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that these are momentary, light afflictions.
Momentary? Light?
That’s the last thing you want to hear from someone as the pain persists or hurtful words continue to pierce you. When your body feels frail with illness, light affliction is probably not a word you would use to describe your condition. Relief is what you want, even just a little bit.
Yet Paul is trying to shift our thinking from focusing on our present condition to the eternal. He reminds us that what lasts is our faith in Jesus and our devotion to him no matter what happens in our life. He wants us not to dwell on the “things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen (4:18, NASB).”
Years ago, when my family was facing a grueling trial, all we could see was the tremendous emotional toll it was taking on us. We continued to pray, crying out to God for relief, yet it persisted for years. This was not a light affliction and it did not feel momentary at the time. What we could not see at the time was that unbelievers in Jesus were watching how we dealt with this difficult situation.
Years later, when a family member came to faith in Jesus after years of rejecting Him, she said that seeing us stick with our faith during that trial made it real. She knew there was something there holding us up. This was the unseen part we couldn’t see at the time.
Not only was that period of trial “producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,” but it was preaching the gospel of Jesus in ways we could not comprehend (17). Our faith grew deeper during those difficult years, but it was also growing new believers in Jesus. As Paul reminded us, “for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (18).”
My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. – Psalm 62:1-2, NASB
140 Character Christian 