The Pleasure in the Pain

(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 walk through this passage. Yesterday we learned that our challenges, in Paul’s estimation, are both temporary and light. No matter how big they seem to us as we are facing them, in hindsight, they are but a small thing in the overall story of our lives. Moreover, they are nothing to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:17,18). With that in mind, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday:

Yet they produce for us: Have you ever thought of your troubles as actually working for you? I taught a message one time entitled, “The Pleasure in the Pain.” While none of us truly enjoy facing difficult situations – at least not those of us who are sane (smile) – the truth is that we would not be the persons we are today without them.

If you would be honest with yourself you would admit that you have grown significantly from the many challenges you have faced in life. The issue of Christian maturity is not one of whether or not we will face challenges, because we all do; it is one of how you face them. The more you mature the more you are able to learn from every challenge you face; allowing the challenge to produce for you, not just take away from you.

That vastly outweighs them: This is a reference to the glory that is actually being worked in and for us as we face certain challenges and more importantly, as we mature in Christ. The traditional King James Version reads, “A far more exceeding.” In the original Greek language the words used are: kath' huperbole eis huperbole.

Albert Barnes said the following of this phrase: “There is not to be found any where a more energetic expression than this. The word huperbole (where we get our word “hyperbole”) means properly a throwing, casting, or throwing beyond. In the New Testament it means excess, excellence, eminence (see 2Cor 4:7 “The excellency of the power”). The phrase kath' huperbole means: exceedingly or supereminently. This expression would have been by itself intensive in a high degree. But this was not sufficient to express Paul’s sense of the glory which was laid up for Christians. It was not enough for him to use the ordinary highest expression for the superlative to denote the value of the object in his eye. He therefore coins an expression, and adds eis huperbole. It is not merely eminent; but it is eminent unto eminence; excess unto excess; a hyperbole unto hyperbole - one hyperbole heaped upon another; and the expression means that it is “exceeding exceedingly” glorious; glorious in the highest possible degree. All hyperboles fail of expressing that eternal glory which remains for the just. It is infinite and boundless. You may pass from one degree to another; from one sublime height to another; but still an infinity remains beyond. Nothing can describe the uppermost height of that glory; nothing can express its infinitude.”
So what does this mean to you ? Two things:
1. You can find purpose and promise in anything. Yes, even in challenging situations. So no matter what you are facing, seek to allow it to produce for you.

2. There is nothing (literally nothing) that can be compared with that glory that shall be revealed in us. No earthly superlatives can truly express the bliss we will enjoy as we commune with the Father for eternity. Remember that the next time you are feeling low.

Father, I thank You for helping me to see the big picture this morning. I am not overwhelmed by anything I face, because in the big scheme of things they are both temporary and light. You have brought me through many challenges and You will continue to do so. Instead of allowing the challenges to get me down, I will allow them to work for me as I mature into the person You have called, destined, designed and desired for me to be. Whenever I am feeling low, I think of the glory which shall be revealed in me and I am restored, revived, and rejuvenated, so that I can be ready to face my day! In Jesus’ name. Amen!