Focus

(2 Cor 4:17, 18 NLT) For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

This morning we continue by continuing to discuss Paul: his life and his teachings. We have been walking through 2nd Corinthians chapter four for a couple of weeks now. This is a power-packed passage. Today we finally arrive at the culmination of the chapter and these last two verses might take me another week to go through all by themselves. With that in mind, let’s break this passage down into pieces.

For this morning we will simply look at the first sentence where Paul said, “For our present troubles are small and won't last very long.” Other translations read: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” We know by now that Paul faced many arduous challenges, but in his estimation these challenges were both temporary and light.

Albert Barnes, the American theologian, said the following about this sentence: “This verse, with the following, is designed to show further the sources of consolation and support which Paul and his fellow-laborers had in their many trials. The passage abounds with intensive and emphatic expressions, and manifests that the mind of the writer was laboring to convey ideas which language, even after all the energy of expression which he could command, would very imperfectly communicate.

The trials which Paul endured, to many persons would have seemed to be anything else but light.

They consisted of want, and danger, and contempt, and stoning, and toil, and weariness, and the scorn of the world, and constant exposure to death by land or by sea (see 2 Cor 4:7-10 and 2 Cor 11:23-27). Yet these trials, though continued through many years, and constituting, as it were, his very life, he speaks of as the lightest conceivable thing when compared with that eternal glory which awaited him. He strives to get an expression as emphatic as possible, to show that in his estimation they were not worthy to be named in comparison with the eternal weight of glory. It is not sufficient to say that the affliction was “light” or was a mere trifle; but he says that it was to endure but for a moment. Though trials had followed him ever since he began to make known the Redeemer, and though he had the firmest expectation that they would follow him to the end of life and everywhere (see Acts 20:23), yet all this was a momentary trifle compared with the eternal glory before him. The word rendered “light” (elaphron) means that which is easy to bear, and is usually applied to a burden (see Mat 11:30 and 2 Cor 1:17).”

Who he definitely said a mouthful. What Paul faced is almost inconceivable, but he faced it with an eternal focus that enabled him to endure, persevere, and eventually overcome. Paul was able to look past every problem and to focus on the promise of eternal life. His eternal focus gave him earthly strength.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:


1. Life in Christ is not without challenges.


2. Whatever challenges you do face, you can face with the grace and power of God. While Christ gives us a burden, His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mat 11:30).


3. To overcome you must maintain an eternal focus. Your perspective will determine the level of your perseverance. Look past every problem and focus on God’s promises!

Father, I look at the lives of David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, Jesus and others and I realize the great price they paid for fulfilling their earthly assignment. In spite of challenges, they were fixed and focused in their determination to die empty; and they did. They had an eternal focus and so do I. I look past every problem and I focus on Your promises. I am convinced that whatever I face in this present time will be both temporary and light; nothing that can be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in and through me. I am a child of the Most High God and I will live like it every day. Nothing the enemy brings my way will stop me! In Jesus’ name. Amen!

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