What Is Really Important? [2 Corinthians 4]

¹⁴knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

As we am watching our parents grow older, my husband and I sometimes lose heart. We talked last night about what they wanted to do for their final arrangements. Our "outer man is decaying" and there is "momentary, light affliction" in the process. It is hard to watch the aging process. It will be even harder to watch the dying process if we keep looking at the temporal.

What has God done to give us perspective? First, we have to KNOW that He "raised the Lord Jesus." In the same way "He will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you." There is also the sweet reminder about His grace tucked in there. His abundant grace (power) will cause us to overflow with thanksgiving and God will be glorified.

Lord, we need Your focus today. You are reminding us that "our inner man is being renewed day by day." The momentary, light affliction "is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." We will correctly estimate who You are (glory) for eternity. We praise You, God, that you have made us to live forever with You. We are being changed inside by Your grace - that is our hope of glory.