Learning to Press On

About a week and a half ago, I shared this short devotion with the Wednesday night crowd at our church.

2 Corinthians 4:1-9;16

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies... So we do not lose heart.

I first assured them all that this devotion could apply to anyone's life and anyone's situation. But to give them an example, I drew off of a personal experience. I carried them back to the night of February 5th, a night that much of 2008 revolves around for me. I took them through my thoughts and fears, my steps and plans, and the process I had to go through to recover. That night affected me emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It could have been a night where I let go of so much. I could have rejected all that I believe in, but instead I chose to look to God for guidance immediately. I depended on Him for strength, and I was able to press on only because of Him.

Looking at this passage, we can see that hard times can easily bring us down. Whether we are being bogged down by illness (of a family member or ourself), financial difficulties, disputes between friends and family, natural disasters, or anything else, we could easily become depressed or decide to just give up. But Paul encourages us to press on. We can know who our God is and what He is capable of. We can look to Him for guidance and depend on His strength and will. We may be afflicted with a hard circumstance in life, but we will not be crushed. We could be perplexed as to why this is happening to us, but with God we will not be driven to despair. He can give us hope. He truly is the answer to those hard times, to those difficulties of life. We must remember that just because we are His children does not mean that we are protected from affliction. We are still human, and we will still suffer in this world. The difference between us and the rest of the world is that our hope is grounded in God.

So looking at this, there are 3 things we need to see so that "we will not lose heart."

1. Be changed - It all starts with salvation. We must first know who Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross.
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2. Be convinced - We must be convinced that He will always be there for us. He is our Savior and Lord, and we cannot find the faith to believe that He will never "leave us nor forsake us," then we struggle to find that hope. He will be there for us, but we have to remember to look to Him for the guidance that He is providing.
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3. Be committed - This involves a life changing to always follow Him no matter the cost. If we are changed and convinced, we must also be committed to follow Him when those hard times arrive. He should be the first one we go to when struggles come and we feel helpless.

I say all of this to encourage you to look to Jesus with whatever it is you may be struggling with right now. I do not know the needs of your life, but we all face difficulties at one point or another. Remember that God is waiting for you to look to Him. He wants to help and knows the best way to help you. So do not lose heart; set your heart on God.

Matt