I have found that the older I get (now 57!!), the more I come to realize the inexorable reality that things are just not getting better. Not in me and not in others. Yes, people change—profoundly at times. But for the most part, we trod through life, hoping for personal improvement that seems remote and frustrating. Fighting the spiritual wars of the heart is relentless and exhausting. Beyond that, the woes of life are frequent and profound. Daily encounters with our own sin and those of others, as well as the inescapable reality of our getting older, along with an assortment of other discouraging reminders of the brokenness of our world can be overpowering. The Christian life, though buttressed in great hope in God, is one of depletion and need of replenishing. Self-improvement and physical preservation are those things that we learn over time are slim possibilities. It is easy to become discouraged.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Paul provides profound truth about how we can stay the course in times of difficulty and suffering. The key verse is sixteen:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
The surrounding verses provide the substance for Paul’s claim.
Verse seven talks of treasure contained in jars of clay. Verse 4 and 6 of the same chapter reveal that Paul has in mind a treasure contained in the gospel. Those who perish are those who are unbelieving, because their hearts are blinded in darkness, making them unable to see “the glory of Christ,” about which the gospel is good news. But those to whom God has given light in the heart, it is they who can see “the glory of God in the face of Christ.” And indeed His glory is most glorious!!
It is this glorious gospel of Christ that we have in jars of clay—that is, earthly bodies that are decaying, becoming increasingly weak and frail. So why does God, who speaks light into darkness, do so into “jars of clay”? And how can we, being fragile and bound by infirmity and weakness, join with Paul in embracing a view of life that is filled with hope and joy, while also bearing this rich and glorious treasure—the glory of Christ?
First, God gives us (we are the jars of clay) this treasure for reasons that display Him, not us. In the same way that God has shown glory in our heart by speaking light into existence there, so it is that He continues to show His sovereign power by using earthen vessels as instruments of that power, in order to show the power as coming from and belonging to Him (v. 7). Nowhere is this power shown more brightly than in our circumstances of suffering and weakness. Paul is writing this text in context of his own circumstances of suffering. Notice how he describes these in verses 8-11.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Paul elaborates on his suffering in chapter 11 in verses 23-30.
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Paul concludes that it is his sufferings and weakness that gives him room for boasting, because Christ is shown as the one powerful in his sufferings and weakness (cp. 12:9-10). In others words, Paul was heartened in his sufferings, because of His love for His Savior’s glory. When light shown in Paul’s heart, it produced a love for the glory of Christ. Therefore, whatever brought a greater sense of that glory was to Paul a reason for rejoicing—even, and especially, if it meant suffering.
Furthermore, Paul had a deep desire that more and more people would know God’s grace and be filled with thanksgiving toward Him, thus producing even more glory to God (v. 15). He was both willing and ambitious to suffer loss and even death in order that faith would come alive in the hearts of others for the glory of God (vv. 12-14).
Lastly, Paul looked forward to the glory that he would see and have in full in heaven (vv. 17-18). His current sufferings, though significantly and presently difficult, were to Paul of no comparison when compared to the glory being produced in him through suffering. He was being conformed to the very image of Christ whose glory he loved most. Paul’s transformation was accomplished in the same manner as will ours—he beheld in Christ that into which he was being conformed—His glory (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).
God is glorified in us when we are transformed into His image—an internal transformation that is renewed day by day while we abide in this earthly tabernacle. And transformation means that we increasingly love what God loves most—His glory. While we are wasting away in our mortal bodies, we are being made into what we behold. This makes us stop and ask a couple of sobering questions. What are you beholding? What do you love most?
These questions help us answer the second question I asked several paragraphs above. How can we, being fragile and bound by infirmity and weakness, join with Paul in embracing a view of life that is filled with hope and joy, while also bearing this rich and glorious treasure—the glory of Christ? Like Paul, it depends on what you behold and love most. He could write to us that we do not lose heart because we are being replenished day by day, by looking at the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is our greatest delight and joy. In that pursuit we are refreshed and encouraged because the supply never ends. We fight for our joy daily by coming back to the truth of the gospel and loving its greatest gift, that is, Christ Himself, and loving His glory. Beholding and living for the things of this world can never deliver replenishing life in otherwise discouraging circumstances. Looking at the things which are “not seen,” those things that are eternal and not temporal, the very glory of Christ, is the means by which we are renewed day by day and thus not lose heart, but rather be encouraged to press into God in times of suffering, all for His glory!