The Greatest Glory

"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Cor 4:16-18

The last year and a half has had a profound impact on my walk with the Lord akin to that of an earthquake. That very shaking demolished the edifice of my life and as brick after brick fell, I came to the realization that the cause of my frustration, turmoil and disaster during that time was not the shaking that was taking place but actually the faulty foundation upon which I had built my life. The aftershocks of that shaking have resulted in a complete overhaul of everything I thought I knew and everything I held as absolute apart from the Lord. I can say unequivocally that the past two years have been the most emotionally excruciating but also the most spiritually cleansing years I have experienced. The purpose of difficult seasons is usually only seen in retrospect and I can say that that is true in my experience.

I fought God like hell, everyday of the shaking, because my carefully crafted and seemingly stable building (my life) was crumbling before my very eyes and that was both disappointing and anxiety-inducing. Little did I know that the only reason the shaking was demolishing what I had built, was because I had erected it on a foundation that was altogether flimsy and insufficient.

I think it’s safe to say that in the unprecedented events of 2020 and 2021, we have all experienced our own personal shaking and we have all had to deal with shakes that impacted us as a collective. I’m not sure where you may be today, maybe you are still grappling with accepting all that has happened, maybe you are angry and disappointed because things didn't go the way you wanted them to or maybe you are still grieving every person and everything you’ve lost along the way. Perhaps you are in a messy and seemingly insurmountable combination of all of those things. If that’s you, I want to remind you that there is beauty being fashioned in you even when it feels like you’re being destroyed.

The verse I chose for this post was a hard truth for me to accept while in the thick of my troubles but it was a truth I needed to cling to. I hope that you can find the strength to hold onto it as well. I want to encourage you not to give up. Examine your building (life) and ensure that your foundation is Jesus and Jesus alone because building your life on anything other than the Rock of Ages is guaranteed to end in disappointment.

Adjusting your perspective can be a gargantuan task when it feels like everything would be fixed “if God would just…”. You can fill in the blanks for whatever your quick-fix solution would be. The verses in Corinthians remind us that our troubles are light and momentary. I know your troubles may not feel light and Lord knows, they may seem to be dragging on but your breakthrough is in your perspective. Paul’s statement was relative. If our focus has become so contracted that we place more weight on our earthly reality than on our eternal security, everything will seem chaotic and unendurable. However, if we consider that these troubles are resulting in a glory that is ETERNAL and far more precious than circumstantial peace, we understand that they are small in comparison. Seeing the value of your sanctification and esteeming that above your temporary happiness will help you endure the tough seasons. Your growth brings immense glory to God because you are being transformed into His image so when His glory becomes your ultimate purpose, your perspective becomes rightly aligned.

Lastly, I echo Paul’s sentiments, fix your eyes on the eternal because this physical life is but for a moment. Your internal transformation will last far beyond this earthly life and God receives all glory for that. That being said, the Lord is so gracious and so merciful that He often restores our joy and our laughter after the shaking. He often replaces the things that were lost with better and more fulfilling ones and I think that is one of the most beautiful experiences. Even though God asks us to fix our eyes on the unseen, He still cares so deeply about our quality of life while on earth and so, we have hope for eternity but we also have hope for a future not too far away. In that future, the pain of the present troubles and the destruction of the personal shaking will be gone, only to be replaced with joy, refreshing and a deep gratitude for the previous season. Then, you are able to start rebuilding...this time, on a Firm Foundation.