Out of Darkness
2 Corinthians 4:6 – For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. 7 – But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
Verse 8 – We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 – we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, 10 – always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body.
There are days when I can relate to the feeling of experiencing trouble on every side and the temptation to feel crushed, driven to despair, abandoned and destroyed is very real. According to these verses, this is what carrying around in our body the death of Jesus looks like – the feeling of being forsaken by God. That’s what Jesus cried from the cross, from his bruised and bleeding body: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Paul further explains that the purpose of all this is so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. Let Jesus shine in our hearts through all the challenges and adversity we may be experiencing. Our suffering, then, is not meaningless. May the light of Jesus Christ continually shine ever brighter through our trials so that others can see Jesus. “As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” – 2 Corinthians 4:12
verse 15 – For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. 16 – Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
Verse 17 – For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 18 – because we are not looking 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.
– Jesus is always able to produce light out of darkness. Let Jesus create light of our darkness today. As it is written, may our momentary, light suffering produce for us the eternal weight of glory so that others can see the light of Jesus Christ shining out of us always!
Where two are gathered 