Faith Amid the Trials

-- William A. Simpson

 

(2 Cor 4: 15-17)

    We tend to view the trials of life in a grievous light, making them far worse in our minds than they truly are, viewing them temporally, and from the perspective of our own desires. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that it has been granted to us to suffer for Christ’s sake, that is is a high privilege, something for which to be grateful, and not something over which we ought to lament and weep (Phil 1:29).

    One wonders sometimes how Paul himself managed to rejoice when, for example, he was thrown to the lions at Ephesus, or stoned, or imprisoned. Christians have been known to argue that those instructions are only ideals, but not goals to which we ought to have any genuine expectation of achieving. As conservatives, we must believe, however, that Paul meant what he said. For, he did not leave us without clear and unambiguous instructions as to how to go about rejoicing in the face of trials. In the same passage quoted above, Paul continues, “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” (2 Cor 4:18). And to the church at Colosse he wrote, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2).

    One of Job’s “friends” said to him, “...man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward…” (5:7). Job said, “Man born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (14:1). A songwriter of relatively recent years said that into each life some rain must fall. These are true statements. No man who ever lived walked this earth his entire life without experiencing heartache, grief, tragedy and loss. Some men go through their entire lives pessimistically, just waiting for the next crisis, expecting to be defeated at every turn, and making trouble out of every blessing. It is so very unnecessary.

    One of the tenets that we stress often at Christian Chronicles is the necessity of living our lives from an eternal perspective. That is what Paul was talking about when he said those things to the Corinthians and the Colossians. He was saying, “Look, my friends, if you view things temporally, you are going to be upset by every bump in the road. But if you consider that you are already an eternal creature, then you will view the vicissitudes of your earthly lives as little more than necessary inconveniences to the accomplishment of God’s greater purposes. You will begin to be able to rejoice even in crises. The world will see disasters, but you will see the glory of God.”

    The fact is, Christian, that you already are eternal. The life which you now live in the flesh is the very life of Christ Himself, and we are already citizens of heaven (Gal 2: 20; Phil 3:20). We reside yet in mortal flesh, but we ourselves are already members of the household of God (Eph 2:19), and ought to view our lives as they really are, exceedingly brief moments in which we are able to serve, laying up treasure against the day when we shall step physically into eternity as well as being already spiritually there. As we begin to view our lives as ending, not at the grave, but never; as we begin to see ourselves as the eternal creatures that we are, earthly troubles fall away into insignificance and we are able to deal with them through eyes of faith, and with hearts that truly do trust God, so that we are then able also to rejoice in everything. It is not possible to live earthly lives without crisis and tragedy, but it is possible to rejoice in everything, by living out the days of lives from an eternal perspective, able to trust God in everything.