Devotionals

Hope in Suffering

Losing heart is easy to do, especially when we face hard times. In the Bible, "lose heart" has its roots in the Greek language. In Greek, losing heart means "to act badly in the face of difficulty" or to "give up."

When faced with difficulty, we may find ourselves in terrible predicaments. Sometimes, it's easier to lose heart than to keep pushing through and fight the good fight. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we're reassured with reminders from Paul, who faced great difficulty in getting through to the hard-hearted Corinthian church.

Unlike some during his time, Paul refused to stray his narrative from the Gospel, holding fast to each truth of God. He reminds us of a single truth to keep us going: God is eternal, while suffering is temporary. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) says:

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

18 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.

Paul himself suffered. The Corinthian church, as we can see throughout the book of first Corinthians, were hard-hearted people like Paul once was. Paul, whose name used to be Saul, once walked a path that strayed far from God. He persecuted and sought to kill Christians (you can read more about Saul's conversion to Paul as he was saved in Acts 9)!

After he was saved, Paul became a disciple of Christ, going out and trying to help others to be saved. He saw a great division within the Corinthian church and spent the entire book of first Corinthians writing letters to them to open their eyes to Christ. Some topics that were explored in the first book of Corinthians were "marriage, divorce, celibacy, diet, idolatry, personal Christian freedom, worship, spiritual gifts, congregational order, and questions about resurrection and the age to come" (Course Hero-Link at the end). He did so in truth and in love. He says in 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 and 4:5...

1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

In other words, Paul refused to distort the words of God. He preached the Gospel "as-is," and did not twist it to fit into his own narrative or for his own benefit. Because of his truthfulness to the Corinthian church, he likely faced some pushback (we can deduce that resolving the divisions in the Corinthian church was not an easy feat-the first book of Corinthians is 16 chapters long). Even so, he prevailed, as we see throughout the second book of Corinthians, as most of the church accepted his message of Christ.

The message is simple: you will face times where you'd rather lose heart than follow Christ. You will want to give up. You will hurt, face pushback, and you will suffer, all for the sake of Christ. Paul reassures us, though.

Remember the verses from earlier, 16-18, as you go about the rest of your week.

No matter what challenges you might face, God's love is eternal and suffering is not.

Here's a prayer to conclude our devotional today:

Lord,

Help us to be more like Paul: fearlessly sharing Your truths with others, despite the pushback and suffering that we may face because of it. When we face hard times, help us to see past the temporary suffering and toward You, our eternal Savior. It's easy to lose heart, but we want to maintain our relationships with you by remaining hopeful through suffering and by holding steadfast to your truths and promises. Remind us when we're hurting and suffering that our pain is temporary. In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Here's the link from earlier about the issues explored by Paul in First Corinthians:

https://www.coursehero.com/file/pjhrl3m/What-major-issues-does-1-Corinthians-address-First-Corinthians-addresses-the/