“So We Do Not Lose Heart. "

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 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.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18 ESV)

Have you ever just been “weary” down deep in your soul? Some of you may have never experienced what Paul talks about in verse 16, when he says “Therefore we do not lose heart, though our outer man is decaying,” The Greek word that we translate “faint” in the KJV or “loose heart” in the ESV, “not discouraged” in the NIV, “do not despair” in the NET is ekkakeo 1573, which means “inner weariness”. I think all of the translations above capture what Paul was trying to convey, but “inner weariness” just takes that emotional feeling to another level.

We’ve all been discouraged at some time in our lives; many of us have felt despair, and I’m pretty sure that, before salvation, all of us have at some time “lost our heart” to continue on. Paul, I’m sure, had at some time felt totally “weary” down deep in his soul. When he looked at the outward circumstances of his life, how could he not have felt that way? In verses 8-11, he explains some of the things that he and his fellow workers, Timothy, Silas, and Titus, had endured. He says, “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” As you read this, you can feel the seesaw of emotions that Paul went through. If he had just focused on what was happening to his outer man, I’m sure he and his friends would have felt abandoned, left alone, and in much despair, but as we know, Paul had learned something about following our Savior.

In Philippians 4:11-12, he states, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”  The key to these verses is that Paul had to learn to be content in the Lord. I don’t think it comes naturally to any of us to be content in EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE. It is something that we have to learn from experience, not just from reading it in Scripture. God is faithful, and merciful, and long suffering, and generous, and gracious. We know this because Scripture tells us that He is all these things, but we “learn” this through life experience as we walk with Him. Believer, when you are weary down deep in your heart, don’t give up. Go to God’s Word, fill up with His mercy and grace, remember what you have learned from your time with the Holy One, remember what He has done for you.

In the rest of verse 16, Paul says, “… our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Learning to be content in the grace of Jesus is a process, not something that happens the moment His marvelous grace saves us. We are renewed day by day, we learn more of God’s faithfulness day by day, we learn contentment day by day. We develop the inner strength to fight off Satan’s attacks of “weariness” day by day.

When we are going through the trials of this life, it’s hard for us to turn our attention away from our circumstances and toward “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison”. In verse 18, Paul states, “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.”

If you are weary today, please don’t despair. You need to get your eyes off the things that are seen and on the things that are not seen, off the temporal and on to the eternal. Start singing a hymn that speaks of the glory of our Savior, find a favorite passage of Scripture and read it again, listen to an uplifting message about the goodness of God, call a believing friend, and go to a godly church service that teaches the Bible. Don’t just sit there thinking about the “temporal” things that have you down right now; it won’t help. We need to start allowing God to renew our minds and start thinking about the eternal things that our heavenly Father offers us.

Our hope is not in this world, and the things of this world, but for the believer, our hope is Jesus, and what He has done for us. Praise Him for His grace and love, and as Paul says in Philippians 4:8, “… if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"