Skip to main content

Gaining (Glorious) Weight - 2 Cor 4:16



2COR 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In pursuing God’s glory we are looking for stages and arenas for Him to display Himself in our world, but we do not have to go very far at all; we begin with the everyday little things and work our way in to the bigger ones. That is where affliction comes in  working as the agitation of a washer and providing the friction needed for a good wash.

The disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” Jesus answered, “Neither.” God wants to be glorified—He wants what is hidden to be made known, the hidden things about Himself put on stage as the hero of your life! 

So how broken are we? How broken will we let ourselves be to allow the glory of God to be revealed in us? 

Circumstances will always come and go, but why not capitalize on them instead of just letting them be wasted? Why not have them bring to light your brokenness and your need for God and then pray and fast and suffer in it so the stage is set for your Heavenly Father to come on the stage, be the hero, and deliver you and provide for you in ways you never dreamed of? 

However, we should not sabotage our lives to create the stage ourselves; we should not merely sit as a victim, nor should put ourselves in “jumping off the temple” situations as if to tempt God to intervene. Somewhere in the middle of the extremes sits you. You are there, the real you with real problems you cannot solve on your own and unless you have help you are going down into yet another problem; 

and there are only so many times you can go down until you have gone under and are buried in your pain, your rejection, your brokenness, weakness, and incapability.

The temptation is taking things into your own hands like Judas or denying God like Peter. Paul had plenty of afflictions. The absence of afflictions does not mean we are more godly or graced than others. It may mean the opposite and that you are losing weight, glorious weight meant for God.

What is this eternal weight of glory? How are afflictions preparing us for it? How does our perspective of the eternal versus the temporary help in our “gaining glory weight?” Are YOU gaining weight these days? What does it mean when it says “this” light momentary affliction?
Labels:
Location: Marion, IN, USA

Popular posts from this blog

Banning Influencers at Church?

 You might be getting The Pour Over into your inbox each day as I do. As I read one of the highlighted articles, Why are cafes, restaurants, and even towns banning influences ?  I thought of two things: A popular video game and the Church. The [Galactic Civ] video game action arena is space and utilizes exploring with several different tactics. One is cultural expansion deploying techniques for taking over the galaxy using mods to influence other traveling species with your culture and therefore "quietly" take over the galaxy and win the game. You could also win by buying up all of the other planets (economic takeover--think China?), or by hostile takeovers and warfare (think Russia?).  I like to use the cultural takeover mostly these days. The article lists the reasons for the ban, one is logistical (small-town shops cannot handle triple+ visitors due to a rise in popularity resulting in more harm than good). I imagined a small church of older people spiking due to a popular
Read more

Revelation's Whore as Today's Culture

  https://thehustle.co/originals/why-you-almost-never-see-a-clock-at-the-mall The word “whore” may have different definitions to some, but I want to use it as a woman who markets herself for the sole purpose of robbing men of their life for her own gain--whatever her “gain” is: monetary, lust, or otherwise. She is the reverse-consumer and profiteer at the same time, a vampiress, a luxurious drunk, functioning alcoholic. Her appeal is a marketing scheme based on not just years of study, but an exquisite composition of research and development where she is both scientist and evidence, psychologist and client--in an endless cycle and sinister feedback loop of trial and error, hypothesis and investigation, feeding and consuming. All the while tricking you into believing you are the main character. But it isn’t about you. You have entered her Nirvana constructed for you to “remain inside” her. Once her legs are wrapped around you, she is sure to suck your life away. And as titillating a
Read more

Who you going to call?

I had a coworker who was a very-likeable person, but seemed in competition with everyone. He was a funny guy, I'll give him that, but most of the time engaged in rather shallow conversations. He knew a little about everything, which caused him to have an opinion about . . . well, everything. And his wit made you want to listen. Most of the time, it is a fun, light-hearted space to work in. Likeable people, are just that: likeable. There are several people I have worked with over the years like this--very friendly, likeable, fairly easy to talk to, yet never really wanted to go deeper. In fact, if conversation turned that way, they became uncomfortable and either remained silent, tried to change the subject, or simply left the circle.  We all need someone we can go deep with. This is the kind of person you'd want to tell others you know or ask if they do. They are not the kind of person you'd call if your spouse ended up in the hospital, or your parent died, or your kid was
Read more

Family Time Videos