The Guiding Light
Since we have been given such a purpose—such a reason to live—we do not lose heart. We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. We can see through the guise of this world. In fact, the kingdom of God is more real than this world around us. Wealth, fame, respect, danger, death… It is all an illusion. We know the truth. Rather than having to sugar coat our experiences or invent meanings, we simply present the truth itself. By setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscious in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is misunderstood, it is misunderstood by those who are perishing. So do not be afraid to pronounce the truth boldly. God has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Therefore, let’s stop judging those who don’t believe. We were worse than them at one point. Let us instead pray and love them, so that they might see the truth that has been so graciously shown to us. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as each other’s servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. Let the light of Christ in your heart shine. Let the joy of Christ in your heart shine. Let the Love of Christ in your heart shine.


We are strong, because we are weak
We are challenged and hard pressed from this world from every angle, but we are not crushed. We cannot see where to go next, but we are not in despair. We are persecuted by this world, but not abandoned. We are struck down for Christ, but we are not destroyed. What can man do to us? We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. We have died to our self to that we may live in Christ. It is the only way to truly live. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. More people have been killed for Jesus in the last century than in all the centuries before it combined. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. If we die, we get to see the face of our savior and king and live with him forever. If we live, we get to continue to worship and praise Him, so that others might be saved. It is a win-win situation. Kill me? More of Jesus. Let me live? More of Jesus.

Speak
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause you to give overflowing thanks to the glory of God. Praise God for who He is. Praise God for what He has done. Who you are and what you've done only matter if they glorify Him. Don’t waste your life.

Therefore, we take heart! Though our bodies are slowly wasting away with this world, our souls are being renewed each day in the love and joy of Jesus! Each day is a new adventure. Each day is a new victory, so long as we choose to fight the battle. For the light and momentary troubles are achieving us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Your suffering now will lead to riches you cannot even imagine. Cancer, pain, evil, injustice will all pass away and we will see God’s glory revealed in all of it. So we fix our eyes not what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.


The Man on the way to his inheritance
Think of it like this: a man gets word that he has a billion dollar inheritance coming to him and that he can now go and receive it downtown in the city. So he gets in his car and he goes, but just a mile out, his car breaks down. The man then begins to grumble, saying my car is broken! In fact, he grumbles and complains the whole way there. “Why does this always happen to me?! How could God let this happen?! Why this suffering?!” He has a billion dollar inheritance coming to him and yet he is in despair! Instead he should respond “I have legs! I can run to receive my inheritance!” You are going to inherit the world, so why grumble? I don’t need this! I’ve got an inheritance!!!! I don’t need all the other things I have an appetite for: food, sex, progress, acceptance, responsibility, fame, respect, recognition, winning, to be envied, love, or things. I don’t need to feed those appetites because I (a worthless sinner) HAVE (it has been given to me) AN INHERITANCE (far greater than I can conceive) in Christ Jesus! Those appetites whisper NOW NOW NOW, and never later. But I don’t need them. All I need or want to do is to glorify the King who is fully worthy and to rejoice that he has enabled me to do so. Rejoice! I will say it again, Rejoice!