Thursday, June 21, 2018
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV84) Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
EVEN A MUSTARD SEED FAITH CAN DO GREAT THINGS (3)
Another aspect of mountain-moving faith is that it knows that the troubles we experience in this present life will be changed eventually to glory.
A story is told from the life of John Quincy Adams, the American statesman who served as the sixth president of the United States. When he was old, a friend stopped by for a visit one day, greeting him at the door with the words: "How do you do, Mr. Adams?" The elderly gentleman replied: "John Quincy Adams himself is very well, thank you. But the house in which he is living is falling to pieces. I think that John Quincy Adams will soon have to move out. But he himself is very well, sir." Mr. Adams was referring, of course, to his frail body on which the passing years had taken their toll and from which his soul would soon have to take its leave.
That is what Paul is saying in the verse above, but with a beautiful Christian twist. He realized that, though his body experienced weakness (like the "thorn in his flesh") yet, as a believer who anchored his hopes in Christ, his spirit was growing stronger each day. He knew the time was coming when all sorrows of the present *seen world* would be gone and all the glories of the *unseen heavenly world* would be his. That kept his spirit strong.
The Holy Spirit works the same conviction in the hearts of believers today. We, too, know only too well how our bodies are subject to the aging process. With each passing year we have more bodily pains to put up with. Our strength wanes. Our steps get slower. But the Holy Spirit uses the Good News of Jesus to help us maintain our spiritual vitality. He keeps pouring new strength, courage, joy into our souls. He preserves in us the certainty that, just as our heavenly Father kept His promise to send Jesus to us at Bethlehem, to die for us on Calvary, and to be raised from the dead at Easter, even so He will keep His promise to send His Son on the Last Day to receive us to Himself. Knowing this we can sing in every season of life:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
(Lutheran Service Book, 809:1, 3)
