Who's Workin' Here Anyway??

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.   II Cor. 4:17, 18

How many times have you been sitting in church, or listening to a sermon on the radio and heard "For our light affliction..." and said to yourself, "Wait a minute! Light? I'm sitting here, bearing a heavy burden, and this doesn't seem like it will ever go away!!" and just turned your ears off?

I confess, "I've been there, done that"--completely missing the entire point. Now, you're probably thinking the "point missed" is the fact that our light afflictions are nothing to be compared with the "exceeding and eternal weight of glory..." But that's not the treasure that is so easily overlooked, or at least has been in my case.

In a day when unemployment is skyrocketing, and jobs are extremely hard to come by, it may be encouraging to know that our very own PROBLEMS can actually WORK for us! Think of it! You, THE BOSS--FINALLY! "Someone's" working FOR YOU, for once! And get this, YOU GET PAID for all "their" work! Go figure!

Okay...this sounds too good to be true right? I know..but IT IS TRUE, because GOD's WORD says so...and that's the only "Because I said-so" we'll ever need! God never lies! God IS Truth!

He gives us the key to making our trials WORK FOR US:  Look at verse 18: "While we DO NOT contemplate the things that are seen." (the "seen things" are our circumstances---the situation that SURROUNDS us.) As long as we don't look at our present circumstances and STOP there, but LOOK past them and ON TO the things that are NOT seen, our problems are working FOR us--doing something GOOD FOR us.

We're to look past the present situation and onto those "unseen" things, which are the HIGHER PURPOSES God has for our lives. Yes..God has a purpose for even these storms. This Higher Purpose has its rewards, which are ETERNAL and worth SO MUCH MORE than what we see now. What a BONUS! The best part is no one can snatch it away from you! You earned an eternal reward by letting your troubles work for YOU! All you've got to do is FOCUS on "what is God's purpose for my life?"

Keep your eyes on the prize--the prize of the higher calling. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ever ask or even imagine! He can (and WILL) "work" all things our for OUR good and His glory---as LONG AS we desire to be used of Him, to bring Him glory. (Romans 8:28)

I know--it makes no sense to the common sense mind! But that's the way it is with "walking by faith"--It's completely OPPOSITE of "walking by common sense."

So I've got a question for you: "Who's the Boss?" :)

Dear Father! Thank You for showing me the simple word "while"---that gave me moment to pause and think about this. Our light afflictions ARE WORKING FOR us, but only WHILE we are looking past them and onto what YOUR purpose is for our lives, even in the bad times. If we take our eyes off of Your goal in our lives, we will sink every time---then we'll be enslaved by our circumstances! And Hard Times are Hard Task-Masters! Please gives us faith to see the unseen! In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen!