April 04, 2020: SOAP #3775:  Judges 19-21; 2Corinthians 4

Scripture:  2Corinthians (NIV) 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 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.

Observation:  Earlier in this chapter, the Apostle Paul tells of the struggles and hardships he has experienced in taking the gospel to new places.  He has been through some tough times.  But he has something that encourages him in discouraging times.  He has something that lifts him up when the troubles press him down.  He knows a day is coming when it will be worth it all!   His mind’s eye is so focused on the eternal that he does not bother worrying about the temporary things that have been so troubling.

Application:   Some things seem to call to me, “Look at me, I am important.”  The news media tries to fill my mind with so many things to worry about.  They tell me how bad things are, then they have their experts reinforce their message. The corona virus is the current issue, but when it passes, there will be another.

Stuart Hamblin wrote, “My heart can sing when I pause to remember a heartache here is but a stepping stone along a trail that’s leading always upward…Until then my heart will go on singing; Until then with joy I’ll carry on; Until the day my eyes behold that city; Until the day He calls me home.”   I like the phrase, “…and things of earth that cause the heart to tremble, remembered there will only bring a smile.”  Things look so different from heaven’s point of view.

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, help me keep my eyes focused on heaven, on that which is eternal.  Check my heart when I start to pay too much attention to temporal things.  Interrupt my thinking when my thoughts get stuck on things that bother me.   May I consider everything from heaven’s point of view.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!