THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 19 )
Lesson 3317
THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 19 )
THE ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY
"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
This is Paul's startling comment on the brevity of life and our need therefore to make our lives significant for God's glory.
Two statements stand out:
1. My burden is "light”
2. My “light affliction . . . is but for a moment.”
These two statements appear like glib mantras of someone in self-denial who cannot cope with the hard knocks of life.
But let us dig deeper to understand the real significance of Paul's revelation.
In II Corinthians 4:17, Paul gives us two thoughts to consider:
1) “which is but for a moment”
2) “is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
The first point that needs to be deeply embedded in our minds is the simple fact that, when compared to eternity, our existence in this life—no matter how long—is but for a moment.
Several scriptures emphasize this reality:
» He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. (Psalm 78:39)
» Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)
» Man who is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue. (Job 14:1-2)
Our lives are only a moment in time when compared to eternity.
Jesus gives an example:
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a human being has been born into the world. (John 16:21)
To see our afflictions as light, the second part of the process is to recognize the value of our calling. We would do well to consider its benefits often. As Paul indicates, the understanding that there is “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” is a necessary component to seeing our trials in this life in comparison as a light affliction, a recognition that enables one to endure to the end.
Therefore, the second key is to know that the price we pay now is minuscule compared to the reward that awaits us.
Many believers before us have done a cost/benefit analysis and concluded that the benefits made the costs insignificant. Christ and Paul made the same analysis, concluding that their burdens and afflictions were light costs compared to what the benefits of eternity held for them.
Abba Father,
the heavy becomes light when weighed against eternity. If life is “just a moment,” can we not endure any challenge if it is only for a moment in time in the larger perspective of Your eternity? With Christ alongside as our main burden bearer, we will find lifeless burdensome if we focus on the glory that awaits all overcomers of the Cross. One day in heaven, we will perhaps realize we did not carry the Cross as much as it carried us!
