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Therefore We Do Not Lose Heart

#1 · November 10, 2003, 3:00 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on November 10, 2003, 3:00 pm
Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>

============================
Dear God====Greeting Cards
folsom.sk.ca/deargod.htm
================================

Therefore We Do Not Lose Heart

I just went through another period with a lot of intense pain, caused by the obstructions of all my main arteries. Yesterday was so severe that I had thoughts of dying going through my head again and again.

Therefore we do not lose heart. 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 (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Do you ever get discouraged?

All of us do! At least I think that all of us do.

Occasionally I talk with someone who seems to be on top of everything all of the time. Those kinds of people make me feel so inferior. They do, that is, until I discover what's really going on in their lives. I find that often their buoyant optimism presents a kind of denial of what they are truly facing. The last thing I want to do is deny reality.

I spent several weeks reading devotionally through Paul's two letters to the church at Corinth. They are labeled in the New Testament as 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Although the reading was intended for spiritual nourishment, not for sermon ideas, I stumbled on a passage and phrase written by this man who had great grounds for discouragement. You have, on occasion, heard quote the kinds of physical difficulties he faced. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 he compares himself to some false apostles who had substantially distorted the Gospel and made false accusations against him. He writes:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison n danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11 :23-28)

Can you match Paul's problems? I can't--even in my most difficult days. I have discovered, from this passage and phrase that which provides the basis for this message, an exciting new perspective to my own inclination toward discouragement. Perhaps you will find it helpful also.

So let me share with you the phrase that keeps leaping out at me: "Therefore we do not lose heart" (4:16). That phrase has grabbed hold of me, and it won't let me go. Every time I have been inclined to stop and analyze the problems, losses, discouragements, and challenges of my life, it seems that the Spirit of God reminds me of that phrase.

Let me share with you the passage inside of which this life-changing phrase is buried. Hear the Word of God read from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

"It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. 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" (4:7-18).

Before I can continue I need you to be very honest with me. Do you qualify as a person who has some legitimate complaints? If so, you are in good company, and this message is for you. Do you feel hard pressed on every side? Do you feel perplexed? Do you feel persecuted? Do you feel struck down? If you experience any or all of these, you are in good company. For these are the precise words that Paul used to describe his life experience. In addition to that long grocery list of his problems which I read to you, he also had what he referred to as his "thorn in the flesh." We don't know what it was. Scholars have speculated that he might have had a serious eye disease or epilepsy or chronic malaria. We don't know for certain. What we do know is that many times he prayed to be relieved of that affliction. Yet God never took it away from him. I am talking to you this morning if you are a person who continues to struggle.

I often enumerate the kinds of problems people face. I talk frequently about terminal illnesses, substance addictions, the death of a loved one, financial disaster, alienation from a child, divorce, and the many other crises of life represented in the lives of many of us in this room. Instead of cataloging these in greater detail, I ask you to take a moment to identify the ongoing problems you, at this moment, are facing. I am going to ask you, for your sake, to honestly answer this question: "Am I coping with these circumstances?"

Part of my study involves listening to tapes of great preachers. One, in particular, was a sermon titled "Who Can Take It?" by Peter Marshall, Sr. It was preached during the very lowest days of World War II. This minister of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and chaplain of the United States Senate cataloged the great problems of his day, confronting men and women who were living with the specter of fascist totalitarianism, sacrificing their youth in a war which, at that moment in time, could have very well proven to be a losing effort.

He noted that the misfortunes of life do not come to all persons equally. In fact, there are times when we are tempted to suspect that the dice are loaded and a cruel fate with malice toward us in particular is dealing from the bottom of the deck. Then he stated, "...the important thing is how we deal with the problems that come to us." He quoted that old African-American spiritual, All God's Children Got Troubles. Of course we have these troubles. They keep coming.

"But that which differentiates us is our response to them--what we do when trouble comes."

Then Peter Marshall illustrated four distinct perspectives one can have on trouble. He described an oyster into whose shell there intruded a grain of sand. It was not a very large grain of sand, but a tiny piece of quartz. But it was sharp. its edges were keen, and the oyster was painfully aware of the intruder.

There are at least four courses of action open to the sufferer. All four have their appeals. To some extent, I engage in all of them. But the first three are counter productive. Only the fourth squares with Paul's message in our text.

First, there was the attitude or perspective of "the mutineer" whose sign is the clenched fist.

The oyster might have said, with considerable heat and justification, "What have I done to suffer this? Why should this have to happen to me? If there is a God of justice, if there is a God of love, then why should this be permitted to come to pass? Why should I be called upon to endure this pain? Considering all the millions of oyster shells, why in the name of higher mathematics did you have to enter my particular shell?"

There are people you know and I know who speak like that. They grumble and complain. They whine petulantly unto heaven in a vain effort to understand why misfortunes come.

It would be understandable if the oyster harbored resentment and bitterness or entertained self-pity. It would be understandable if, in the oyster's heart, there were to roll the drums of mutiny, passing his time in complaint toward God. Yet we know, and doubtless the oyster knew, that all of his grumblings and all of his complaints could not adequately deal with the situation because the grain of sand would still be there.

Second, there is the attitude or perspective of "the dreamer" whose sign is the closed eye.

The oyster might refuse to face the fact and try to live in the warm atmosphere of wishful thinking. The oyster might say, "Oh, I do wish this grain of sand would go away. And I shall wish it every day. And I shall wish it over and over again. Oh, grain of sand, go away."

Or Peter Marshall suggested that the oyster might, like some Americans during World War II who had this attitude of the dreamer, say, "What? A grain of sand in my shell! Why, it's impossible. It couldn't happen here. It's just propaganda. I am not going to believe it. Such things couldn't happen to me." And he described in vivid detail some Americans who simply would not face the realities of the German and Japanese threat.

The oyster might, like some of the most cultured and most highly-educated people, try to deny reality. He might have said, "After all, pain, like sin, is an error of the mind. It is negative thinking. I shall dismiss it entirely by projecting my thoughts upon a high, pure, lovely, positive level. I shall concentrate only on the good, the lovely, the beautiful and the true. I will deny the entrance to my mind of any other negative thoughts and thus make it un-real. I am perfectly all right. I am very comfortable, thank you. I am getting along quite well."

The oyster might have subscribed to a course in ten easy lessons on how to influence himself, and he might have joined those who sang their mantra, "Every day and in every way, I am getting better and better."

Yes, the oyster might have said things like that, but it would not have adequately dealt with the problem because the grain of sand would still be there.

Third, there was the attitude or perspective of "the stoic" whose sign is the stiff upper lip.

This is a noble attitude. There is something thrilling about it. You and I have seen people we cannot help but admire. In wartime they cry, "No surrender. Don't give up the ship. We have not yet begun to fight. Hold that line!" There is something thrilling and noble about a spirit like that.

At the beginning of World War II there were notable examples like the sinking Aphenia. At that time one of the more popular songs was The Beer Barrel Polka. Incredible as it seems, Marshall relates survivors struggling in the water, crouching, wet, and shivering in life boats singing together "Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun!" One might wonder at the choice of the song, being aghast at the prospect of facing eternity to such strains. But there is something thrilling about a spirit that can sing at such a time, even though what they sing seems inane and strangely inappropriate.

The stoic has always inspired us. Heroism in the face of difficulty has put backbone into many a person. So if the oyster were to say, "I'll never give in. I'll fight it out on this line. Though I am bleeding and sore, I will never surrender. I must remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn. I'll hang on." You and I would say that's noble, it's thrilling, it's fine, it's magnificent, but it does not adequately deal with the problem. The grain of sand is still there.

The fact is that the oyster does none of these three. It is not a mutineer. It is not a dreamer. It is not a stoic. There is an additional alternative.

Fourth, there is the attitude or perspective of a person who is at one and the same time "the realist and the idealist."

This is a perspective of the Apostle Paul, one that can be yours and mine. You and I can be both realists and idealists and function in both of these ways at the same time. A follower of Jesus is called to be simultaneously a realist and an idealist.

The oyster knows, with the profound wisdom God gives to one of the most modest of His creatures, that nothing is accomplished by rebellion against hard reality. The oyster knows that you can't deny a bleeding, stabbing pain in your side. You can't deny blood. The oyster knows no amount of stoicism can ever make life comfortable again once a grain of sand has entered your shell. So what does the oyster do? The oyster begins carefully and patiently, with infinite skill, to deposit around the quartz a milky substance. Its sandy base is spun and wrapped in nature's magic to make the grain of sand that for which divers are willing to risk their lives--a pearl, a thing of beauty and hidden life, smooth and warm, wondrous beauty wrapped around trouble.

Although Marshall fleshed out this parable with direct analogies to World War II -- troubles that had already happened and would yet happen the losses that were already real which would be added to by future losses and griefs -- five decades later, I still commend to you the privilege of exercising this fourth option. I urge you not to be a mutineer, waving your fist in the face of God. I urge you not to be a dreamer, denying the reality of trouble. I urge you not to be a stoic who simply toughs it out with a stiff upper lip. In the name of Jesus Christ, I call you to be a realist who faces your troubles for what they are and an idealist who sees these in the perspective of God's promises.

Here is the way Paul stated it:

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (4:8-9).

It is possible to be pressed in at every point but not crushed. It is possible to be persecuted by other people but never abandoned by God. It is possible to be at your wit's end but never at hope's end. It is possible to be knocked down but not knocked out.

Paul declares that we do this by carrying around in our body the death of Jesus. We are privileged to identify with His risks, His sufferings, His trials, aware of the very power of God which raised Jesus from the dead, knowing that that same resurrection power is available to us both in this life and in the life to come. Paul writes, "So, then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." He reminds us that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All of this enables him to declare that haunting, triumphant word, "Therefore we do not lose heart."

Do you catch the realism of this? He goes on to state:

"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" (4:16-18).

Let me be brutally frank with you. I am convinced many of us have bought into the heretical, misguided, diabolical statement of Karl Marx, "Religion is the opiate of the people." Granted, a misguided, blind, religious faith can be both superficial denial of reality or hard, cold stoicism. How sad it is to see people who do nothing proactive to deal with their difficult circumstances, attributing all pain and suffering in this life to "God's will" and somewhat naively anticipating that "pie in the sky by and by." Our faith in Jesus Christ dare not be used to anesthetize us to the sufferings of ourselves and others. Marx saw societies held in the clutches of injustice, as insensitive ruling classes held the lower classes in bondage, promising them heaven in the life to come.

However, you and I are privileged to fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. What we see now is temporary. What is unseen is eternal. Although you and I outwardly feel like we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs this temporary pain. I urge you with all my heart as a pastor and as a fellow follower of Jesus Christ to not lose sight of the eternal, even as we realistically cope with the temporal.

Oswald Chambers, in his devotional booklet titled My Utmost for His Highest, in the August 31st entry, states:

"The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word. Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim Who Jesus is.

"Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a centre for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ. The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it."

Let me conclude by saying that I am talking straight from my heart as a man who has known his own share of difficulty and discouragement, who is constantly in touch with people who have had their share of the same. I have discovered that the most important trait I need as a follower of Jesus is embodied in the New Testament word hypomeno. This is best translated "patiently enduring" or "overcoming difficulties." It's the kind of perseverance that realizes that Christ-like living in this world is not for sprinters. It is for joggers. It's a life of perseverance, the ability to recharge one's spiritual batteries, exposing oneself to the spiritual disciplines that are available and to trust God to ultimately validate in our lives the authenticity of His promises to us.

I wish that I could wrap this package up in beautiful paper and put an impressive bow on it and hand it to you. I can't. Life is not like that. But I can challenge you to that combination of realism and optimism with the empowering of Jesus Christ which enables you to face any trouble that comes your way, declaring, with veterans like Paul and the rest of us, "Therefore we do not lose heart." As one who has been tempted on many occasions to lose heart, I assure you that, with the help of the Holy Spirit these thoughts can be more than just pious words. They can be spiritual reality for you and me, both in this life and in the life to come.

============================

Dear God====Greeting Cards
folsom.sk.ca/deargod.htm
================================

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Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>

============================
Dear God====Greeting Cards
folsom.sk.ca/deargod.htm
================================

Therefore We Do Not Lose Heart

I just went through another period with a lot of intense pain, caused by the obstructions of all my main arteries. Yesterday was so severe that I had thoughts of dying going through my head again and again.

Therefore we do not lose heart. 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 (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Do you ever get discouraged?

All of us do! At least I think that all of us do.

Occasionally I talk with someone who seems to be on top of everything all of the time. Those kinds of people make me feel so inferior. They do, that is, until I discover what's really going on in their lives. I find that often their buoyant optimism presents a kind of denial of what they are truly facing. The last thing I want to do is deny reality.

I spent several weeks reading devotionally through Paul's two letters to the church at Corinth. They are labeled in the New Testament as 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Although the reading was intended for spiritual nourishment, not for sermon ideas, I stumbled on a passage and phrase written by this man who had great grounds for discouragement. You have, on occasion, heard quote the kinds of physical difficulties he faced. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 he compares himself to some false apostles who had substantially distorted the Gospel and made false accusations against him. He writes:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison n danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11 :23-28)

Can you match Paul's problems? I can't--even in my most difficult days. I have discovered, from this passage and phrase that which provides the basis for this message, an exciting new perspective to my own inclination toward discouragement. Perhaps you will find it helpful also.

So let me share with you the phrase that keeps leaping out at me: "Therefore we do not lose heart" (4:16). That phrase has grabbed hold of me, and it won't let me go. Every time I have been inclined to stop and analyze the problems, losses, discouragements, and challenges of my life, it seems that the Spirit of God reminds me of that phrase.

Let me share with you the passage inside of which this life-changing phrase is buried. Hear the Word of God read from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

"It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. 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" (4:7-18).

Before I can continue I need you to be very honest with me. Do you qualify as a person who has some legitimate complaints? If so, you are in good company, and this message is for you. Do you feel hard pressed on every side? Do you feel perplexed? Do you feel persecuted? Do you feel struck down? If you experience any or all of these, you are in good company. For these are the precise words that Paul used to describe his life experience. In addition to that long grocery list of his problems which I read to you, he also had what he referred to as his "thorn in the flesh." We don't know what it was. Scholars have speculated that he might have had a serious eye disease or epilepsy or chronic malaria. We don't know for certain. What we do know is that many times he prayed to be relieved of that affliction. Yet God never took it away from him. I am talking to you this morning if you are a person who continues to struggle.

I often enumerate the kinds of problems people face. I talk frequently about terminal illnesses, substance addictions, the death of a loved one, financial disaster, alienation from a child, divorce, and the many other crises of life represented in the lives of many of us in this room. Instead of cataloging these in greater detail, I ask you to take a moment to identify the ongoing problems you, at this moment, are facing. I am going to ask you, for your sake, to honestly answer this question: "Am I coping with these circumstances?"

Part of my study involves listening to tapes of great preachers. One, in particular, was a sermon titled "Who Can Take It?" by Peter Marshall, Sr. It was preached during the very lowest days of World War II. This minister of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and chaplain of the United States Senate cataloged the great problems of his day, confronting men and women who were living with the specter of fascist totalitarianism, sacrificing their youth in a war which, at that moment in time, could have very well proven to be a losing effort.

He noted that the misfortunes of life do not come to all persons equally. In fact, there are times when we are tempted to suspect that the dice are loaded and a cruel fate with malice toward us in particular is dealing from the bottom of the deck. Then he stated, "...the important thing is how we deal with the problems that come to us." He quoted that old African-American spiritual, All God's Children Got Troubles. Of course we have these troubles. They keep coming.

"But that which differentiates us is our response to them--what we do when trouble comes."

Then Peter Marshall illustrated four distinct perspectives one can have on trouble. He described an oyster into whose shell there intruded a grain of sand. It was not a very large grain of sand, but a tiny piece of quartz. But it was sharp. its edges were keen, and the oyster was painfully aware of the intruder.

There are at least four courses of action open to the sufferer. All four have their appeals. To some extent, I engage in all of them. But the first three are counter productive. Only the fourth squares with Paul's message in our text.

First, there was the attitude or perspective of "the mutineer" whose sign is the clenched fist.

The oyster might have said, with considerable heat and justification, "What have I done to suffer this? Why should this have to happen to me? If there is a God of justice, if there is a God of love, then why should this be permitted to come to pass? Why should I be called upon to endure this pain? Considering all the millions of oyster shells, why in the name of higher mathematics did you have to enter my particular shell?"

There are people you know and I know who speak like that. They grumble and complain. They whine petulantly unto heaven in a vain effort to understand why misfortunes come.

It would be understandable if the oyster harbored resentment and bitterness or entertained self-pity. It would be understandable if, in the oyster's heart, there were to roll the drums of mutiny, passing his time in complaint toward God. Yet we know, and doubtless the oyster knew, that all of his grumblings and all of his complaints could not adequately deal with the situation because the grain of sand would still be there.

Second, there is the attitude or perspective of "the dreamer" whose sign is the closed eye.

The oyster might refuse to face the fact and try to live in the warm atmosphere of wishful thinking. The oyster might say, "Oh, I do wish this grain of sand would go away. And I shall wish it every day. And I shall wish it over and over again. Oh, grain of sand, go away."

Or Peter Marshall suggested that the oyster might, like some Americans during World War II who had this attitude of the dreamer, say, "What? A grain of sand in my shell! Why, it's impossible. It couldn't happen here. It's just propaganda. I am not going to believe it. Such things couldn't happen to me." And he described in vivid detail some Americans who simply would not face the realities of the German and Japanese threat.

The oyster might, like some of the most cultured and most highly-educated people, try to deny reality. He might have said, "After all, pain, like sin, is an error of the mind. It is negative thinking. I shall dismiss it entirely by projecting my thoughts upon a high, pure, lovely, positive level. I shall concentrate only on the good, the lovely, the beautiful and the true. I will deny the entrance to my mind of any other negative thoughts and thus make it un-real. I am perfectly all right. I am very comfortable, thank you. I am getting along quite well."

The oyster might have subscribed to a course in ten easy lessons on how to influence himself, and he might have joined those who sang their mantra, "Every day and in every way, I am getting better and better."

Yes, the oyster might have said things like that, but it would not have adequately dealt with the problem because the grain of sand would still be there.

Third, there was the attitude or perspective of "the stoic" whose sign is the stiff upper lip.

This is a noble attitude. There is something thrilling about it. You and I have seen people we cannot help but admire. In wartime they cry, "No surrender. Don't give up the ship. We have not yet begun to fight. Hold that line!" There is something thrilling and noble about a spirit like that.

At the beginning of World War II there were notable examples like the sinking Aphenia. At that time one of the more popular songs was The Beer Barrel Polka. Incredible as it seems, Marshall relates survivors struggling in the water, crouching, wet, and shivering in life boats singing together "Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun!" One might wonder at the choice of the song, being aghast at the prospect of facing eternity to such strains. But there is something thrilling about a spirit that can sing at such a time, even though what they sing seems inane and strangely inappropriate.

The stoic has always inspired us. Heroism in the face of difficulty has put backbone into many a person. So if the oyster were to say, "I'll never give in. I'll fight it out on this line. Though I am bleeding and sore, I will never surrender. I must remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn. I'll hang on." You and I would say that's noble, it's thrilling, it's fine, it's magnificent, but it does not adequately deal with the problem. The grain of sand is still there.

The fact is that the oyster does none of these three. It is not a mutineer. It is not a dreamer. It is not a stoic. There is an additional alternative.

Fourth, there is the attitude or perspective of a person who is at one and the same time "the realist and the idealist."

This is a perspective of the Apostle Paul, one that can be yours and mine. You and I can be both realists and idealists and function in both of these ways at the same time. A follower of Jesus is called to be simultaneously a realist and an idealist.

The oyster knows, with the profound wisdom God gives to one of the most modest of His creatures, that nothing is accomplished by rebellion against hard reality. The oyster knows that you can't deny a bleeding, stabbing pain in your side. You can't deny blood. The oyster knows no amount of stoicism can ever make life comfortable again once a grain of sand has entered your shell. So what does the oyster do? The oyster begins carefully and patiently, with infinite skill, to deposit around the quartz a milky substance. Its sandy base is spun and wrapped in nature's magic to make the grain of sand that for which divers are willing to risk their lives--a pearl, a thing of beauty and hidden life, smooth and warm, wondrous beauty wrapped around trouble.

Although Marshall fleshed out this parable with direct analogies to World War II -- troubles that had already happened and would yet happen the losses that were already real which would be added to by future losses and griefs -- five decades later, I still commend to you the privilege of exercising this fourth option. I urge you not to be a mutineer, waving your fist in the face of God. I urge you not to be a dreamer, denying the reality of trouble. I urge you not to be a stoic who simply toughs it out with a stiff upper lip. In the name of Jesus Christ, I call you to be a realist who faces your troubles for what they are and an idealist who sees these in the perspective of God's promises.

Here is the way Paul stated it:

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (4:8-9).

It is possible to be pressed in at every point but not crushed. It is possible to be persecuted by other people but never abandoned by God. It is possible to be at your wit's end but never at hope's end. It is possible to be knocked down but not knocked out.

Paul declares that we do this by carrying around in our body the death of Jesus. We are privileged to identify with His risks, His sufferings, His trials, aware of the very power of God which raised Jesus from the dead, knowing that that same resurrection power is available to us both in this life and in the life to come. Paul writes, "So, then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." He reminds us that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All of this enables him to declare that haunting, triumphant word, "Therefore we do not lose heart."

Do you catch the realism of this? He goes on to state:

"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" (4:16-18).

Let me be brutally frank with you. I am convinced many of us have bought into the heretical, misguided, diabolical statement of Karl Marx, "Religion is the opiate of the people." Granted, a misguided, blind, religious faith can be both superficial denial of reality or hard, cold stoicism. How sad it is to see people who do nothing proactive to deal with their difficult circumstances, attributing all pain and suffering in this life to "God's will" and somewhat naively anticipating that "pie in the sky by and by." Our faith in Jesus Christ dare not be used to anesthetize us to the sufferings of ourselves and others. Marx saw societies held in the clutches of injustice, as insensitive ruling classes held the lower classes in bondage, promising them heaven in the life to come.

However, you and I are privileged to fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. What we see now is temporary. What is unseen is eternal. Although you and I outwardly feel like we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs this temporary pain. I urge you with all my heart as a pastor and as a fellow follower of Jesus Christ to not lose sight of the eternal, even as we realistically cope with the temporal.

Oswald Chambers, in his devotional booklet titled My Utmost for His Highest, in the August 31st entry, states:

"The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word. Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim Who Jesus is.

"Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a centre for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ. The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it."

Let me conclude by saying that I am talking straight from my heart as a man who has known his own share of difficulty and discouragement, who is constantly in touch with people who have had their share of the same. I have discovered that the most important trait I need as a follower of Jesus is embodied in the New Testament word hypomeno. This is best translated "patiently enduring" or "overcoming difficulties." It's the kind of perseverance that realizes that Christ-like living in this world is not for sprinters. It is for joggers. It's a life of perseverance, the ability to recharge one's spiritual batteries, exposing oneself to the spiritual disciplines that are available and to trust God to ultimately validate in our lives the authenticity of His promises to us.

I wish that I could wrap this package up in beautiful paper and put an impressive bow on it and hand it to you. I can't. Life is not like that. But I can challenge you to that combination of realism and optimism with the empowering of Jesus Christ which enables you to face any trouble that comes your way, declaring, with veterans like Paul and the rest of us, "Therefore we do not lose heart." As one who has been tempted on many occasions to lose heart, I assure you that, with the help of the Holy Spirit these thoughts can be more than just pious words. They can be spiritual reality for you and me, both in this life and in the life to come.

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Dear God====Greeting Cards
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