Hey my friend,

It’s the beginning of a new year and it already feels as if the newness has worn off. The news is still covering the same stuff as last year, politics, impeachment, and other depressing news. Of course there’s much they don’t cover like divorce, death of a loved one, job loss, etc. It’s enough to worry about!

However Paul tells us “For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Paul’s vision here shifts our perspective from earthly to eternal, from the things we see to the things we don’t see.

No matter what happens in this life, as Paul puts those things as “light momentary affliction,” which prepare us for glory.

Paul tells us we’re preparing for glory and lists three aspects: eternal weight, beyond comparison, and unseen.

Eternal weight:

I’ve always associated glory with happy, carefree and light-hearted, like the wind blowing a piece of paper. I’ve never thought it had weight. If glory has weight, it becomes substantial and real, like a paperweight. This glory paperweight also lasts forever, far longer than the material world which will fall apart.

Glory beyond comparison:

Paul says glory is “beyond all comparison”. There’s nothing like God’s glory here on earth. We cannot imagine in our wildest dreams what it’s like. We try, but there are no words. I’m trying to describe God’s glory here, but I cannot. My words are inadequate.

Unseen are eternal: The wind is unseen and real. We can see its effects on leaves. Just as we see how love, hope, joy and peace affect people we know they are real, unseen and eternal, they never go out of style unlike so many things here on Earth. Bellbottoms anyone?

Paul encourages us in this passage to change our focus from the material world and what we see to instead focus on the qualities that last, like hope, love, joy, and other fruits of the spirit. Shifting our focus causes us to worry less.

Paul tells us to not be discouraged because there is more to life than what we see.  These verses give us hope that our suffering will end, hope for a bright future, hope God has our future both here and after we die.

Halleluiah!