When life hurts…

This past weekend we talked about suffering. I wanted to take a moment and give you one more thought about HOPE in the midst of the pain.

As we said in the weekend message, the Bible faithfully brings up HOPE when it talks about suffering. Another great example of this is found in 2 Corinthians 4. You can read the whole section starting at verse 7, but the last three verses will be our focus for a moment.

With persecution, pain and suffering, Paul encourages the Christians in Corinth to fix their eyes on what’s ahead…God’s perfect eternal plan.

Whatever you’re going through…it’s temporary. Even if our struggle is for decades, it’s nothing compared to eternity. FIX your eyes on what is unseen. What? Yes, hope keeps our eyes focused on what God has promised.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)