Chad Werkhoven
Aug 16, 20222 min
If you're feeling crushed by life, get fired up by this inspiring rally.
Read the chapter on BibleGateway
Read previous DIG DEEPER posts on 2 Corinthians
The first word of chapter four - therefore - should always trigger the question "what's the therefore there for?" In other words, on what facts do the conclusions being reached depend on?
In this case, the come from the last verse of chapter three:
And we all,
with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed
into the same image
from one degree of glory to another.
This amazing statement applies to your life in several ways:
Since this transformation comes to you by God's mercy, do not lose heart (v1)
This treasure is delivered to you in jars of clay (v7), referring to the fragile life we live now.
Life is at work in you now (v12)
Again, the critical instruction is repeated in v16: Do not lose heart!
Maybe you've been part of a team that was getting hammered in the first half of the big game, but then after an inspiring halftime speech by the coach, charged out into the second half and won the game. This chapter, and especially v8-10, makes a terrific halftime speech for our Christian lives:
We are
afflicted in every way,
but not crushed;
perplexed,
but not driven to despair;
persecuted,
but not forsaken;
struck down,
but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body
the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our bodies.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The One who raised Christ Jesus from the dead who will also raise you to Himself (v14)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Keep focused on what is unseen in this world and do the will of God (v18)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: