![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/HardToFind.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou could opine about the madness, as could I (and often we do). Let me instead offer here a word of hope.<\/p>\n
Where can one find hope in this maddening world? Hear the words of the Apostle Paul to those living in a world every bit as crazy as ours.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.\u201d<\/span> (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)<\/p>\n Hope, the good Apostle tells us, is found for the follower of Jesus Christ in three great assurances of what is still going on, even in a world gone mad. So much has changed in the last six months, but these have not. These stand behind the testimony: \u201cwe do not lose heart.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThough our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.\u201d<\/span> (16)<\/p>\n It\u2019s true, my body (\u201couter self\u201d) and the world in which it exists is \u201cwasting away.\u201d Is there anything more demonstrably obvious than this?<\/p>\n Yet, if I will seek it, there is endless renewal in the midst of decline and death. It happens not on the level of the world, but in \u201cour inner self.\u201d As I purposely and intently bring my \u201cinner self\u201d into the presence of God, I am, mysteriously, \u201crenewed.\u201d And this \u201cday by day\u201d!<\/p>\n The renewal is life support. And I am hooked up \u201cday by day\u201d for there isn\u2019t a moment I don\u2019t need His life in my \u201cinner self.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.\u201d<\/span> (17)<\/p>\n The weight of this world is not what it seems to be. It is but a \u201clight and momentary affliction.\u201d<\/p>\n While its weight is not what it seems to be, its purpose far exceeds anything we can imagine, for it \u201cis preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.\u201d The difference between what the present \u201caffliction\u201d feels like and what it actually achieves is \u201cbeyond comparison.\u201d Exponentially disproportionate to the present pain are \u201cthe things that are unseen.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s something to cling to even when the \u201caffliction\u201d won\u2019t obey our orders.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.\u201d<\/span> (18)<\/p>\n Things are not as they appear: what appears BIG is small and what seems small (or even non-existent) is BIG. The BIG things appear that way because they are up in our faces. Just as a hand held an inch from your nose blots out the sky, so small, present \u201cthings\u201d block out bigger, \u201ceternal\u201d things.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n Where is a body to find hope in these days? In an endless renewal<\/em> pursued regularly and relentlessly. In an eventual reward<\/em> that will be more than worth the wait and the weight of this present mess. In a present, but not-so-easy-to-see eternal reality<\/em>, that is there, even if the present mess tries to blind us to it.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got to live here; but we can do so with the confidence of these hopeful assurances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If it feels to you like the world has gone mad, you\u2019re not alone. You could opine about the madness, as could I (and often we do). Let me instead offer here a word of hope. Where can one find hope in this maddening world? Hear the words of the Apostle Paul to those living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-corinthians","category-hope","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-PV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3219"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3225,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions\/3225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Assurance #1 \u2013 There is still an endless renewal in the midst of daily decay.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Assurance #2 \u2013 There is still an eventual reward from the midst of a daily suffering.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Assurance #3 \u2013 There is still an eternal reality in the midst of daily routine. <\/strong><\/h5>\n