2 Corinthians 7:4
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
My mind was struck with those words, "...I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." Paul had spent several chapters to this point expressing the types of tribulations he had experienced in the ministry. Though through those passages he had repeatedly made reference to his confidence, trust and sufficiency in Christ, here he exclaims in a superlative fashion that he was exceeding joyful not only despite the tribulations he experienced but in the tribulations he experienced.
I am sure he does not mean that he was joyful about the tribulations but he was still joyful, And not only joyful but exceeding joyful.
This is a truth we must get in touch with today. So many Christians are not joyful even with all of the trappings this world can give them. We have
Money
Peace
Job security and
Creature comfortsAnd yet we are unhappy in life. We are missing something Paul had. I am convinced it is in the fact that Paul's relationship with Christ was not earthly based, but heavenly. The trouble with Christianity today is that we see it as a solution for worldly problems and not as a hope for the future. We practice Christianity as a fix-all for our worldly life and view heaven as the cherry on the top of the goody.
But whether we or successful in worldly living or we have a life filled with trouble, if we view our faith as primarily helping life today we will find it comes short. Only when we see the primary view of the faith as heaven and this earth as a ministry toward heaven; only when our chief concern is the reward in heaven, will we find we can be exceeding joyful today.
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
My mind was struck with those words, "...I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." Paul had spent several chapters to this point expressing the types of tribulations he had experienced in the ministry. Though through those passages he had repeatedly made reference to his confidence, trust and sufficiency in Christ, here he exclaims in a superlative fashion that he was exceeding joyful not only despite the tribulations he experienced but in the tribulations he experienced.
I am sure he does not mean that he was joyful about the tribulations but he was still joyful, And not only joyful but exceeding joyful.
This is a truth we must get in touch with today. So many Christians are not joyful even with all of the trappings this world can give them. We have
Money
Peace
Job security and
Creature comfortsAnd yet we are unhappy in life. We are missing something Paul had. I am convinced it is in the fact that Paul's relationship with Christ was not earthly based, but heavenly. The trouble with Christianity today is that we see it as a solution for worldly problems and not as a hope for the future. We practice Christianity as a fix-all for our worldly life and view heaven as the cherry on the top of the goody.
But whether we or successful in worldly living or we have a life filled with trouble, if we view our faith as primarily helping life today we will find it comes short. Only when we see the primary view of the faith as heaven and this earth as a ministry toward heaven; only when our chief concern is the reward in heaven, will we find we can be exceeding joyful today.
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