- We can glorify God: (4:15): Our sufferings will never go waste. God uses them to minister to others and also to bring glory to His name. When we are suffering, God gives us His grace to endure it. We must be thankful to God in all circumstances viz. in joys, sorrows, in persecutions and sufferings.
- Our trials are greatly benefitting us: (4:16): Many times when we get troubles or persecutions, we come to a point of giving up. But Paul says, instead of giving up, he puts his confidence in God. Although the outward person is perishing, the inward person is experiencing daily spiritual renewal. Paul was not suggesting that the body is not important, or that we should ignore its warnings and needs. Since our bodies are the temples of God, we must care for them; but we cannot control the natural deterioration of human nature. When we consider all the physical trials that Paul endured, it is no wonder he wrote as he did. As Christians, we must live a day at a time. No person, no matter how wealthy or gifted, can live two days at a time. God provides for us “day by day” as we pray to Him (Lk. 11:3). We must not make the mistake of trying to store up grace for future emergencies, because God gives us the grace that we need when we need it (Heb. 4:16). When we learn to live a day at a time, confident of God’s care, it takes a great deal of pressure off of our lives. This is the right perspective of suffering.
- Our troubles are nothing compared to God’s glory: (4:17): Paul says that momentary troubles are nothing compared to the eternity’s values. He was weighing the present trials against the future glory, and he discovered that his trials were actually working for him. Paul was writing about trials experienced in the will of God as he was doing the work of God. God can and does turn suffering into glory, but He cannot turn sin into glory. Sin must be judged, because there is no glory in sin. Suffering will not make us holier men and women. Unless we yield to the Lord, turn to His Word, and trust Him to work our suffering.
Let us see how we can make a comparison of our affliction:
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- Our affliction is light compared to what others suffer.
- Our affliction is light compared to what we deserve.
- Our affliction is light compared to what Jesus suffered for us.
- Our affliction is light compared to the blessings we enjoy.
- Our affliction is light as we experience the sustaining power of God’s grace.
- Our affliction is light when we see the glory that it leads us to understanding of eternal life.
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- Yes we can be sure of the invisible world as real: (4:18): A. W. Tozer used to remind us that the invisible world described in the Bible was the only “real world.” If we would only see the visible world the way God wants us to see it, we would never be attracted by what it offers. The great men and women of faith, mentioned in (Heb.11), achieved what they did because they saw the “invisible world as real” (Heb 11:10,13-14,27).
The things of this world seem so real because we can see them and feel them; but they are all temporal and destined to pass away. Only the eternal things of the spiritual life will last. Again, we must not press this truth into extremes and think that “material” and “spiritual” oppose each other. When we use the material in God’s will, He transforms it into the spiritual, and this becomes a part of our treasure in heaven. We value the material because it can be used to promote the spiritual and God’s kingdom. Because Abraham looked for the heavenly city, he separated himself from Sodom; but Lot chose Sodom because he walked by sight and not by faith (Gen 13; Heb 11:10). Of course, the unsaved world thinks we are odd, perhaps even crazy, because we insist on the reality of the invisible world of spiritual blessing. Yet believers are content to govern their lives by eternal values but not by temporal things which are seen through our eyes.
A few questions we can ask ourselves:
- Do we believe that the invisible Heaven is as real as we live in this earth?
- Do we believe that Christ is seated on heaven and will one day take us to His presence?