So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 2:16-18

Do you ever wonder what God might be up to in your trials and suffering? Do you ever wonder if any good will ever come out of the pain you are experiencing? I certainly do, but today’s scripture gives me great hope in the midst of our pain and confusion. Note here that what the apostle Paul calls “momentary affliction” is actually “preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.”

In today’s passage Paul uses the imagery of an old-fashioned pair of scales: on the one side of the scales he puts all of our suffering, and on the other side, “the eternal weight” of glory awaiting us. Paul weighs our suffering alongside the glory and sees that the glory coming will be “beyond all measure.” That means that one day we will see that suffering here is “small potatoes compared to the good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us” (The Message Translation).

What great encouragement this gives me as I sit alongside a hospital bed or officiate a funeral, or as I look back at my own suffering and loss!  I see a “GOD AT WORK” sign over all of our “momentary affliction.” Suffering is “preparing us” for something big. Weighed on life’s balance scales, our suffering here cannot be compared to the glory ahead!

A fellow traveler,
Tim