2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 7:1

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temples of the living God; as God said,

‘I will make my dwelling place among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’

‘Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,’

‘and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’”

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

2^nd Corinthians 6:14-18, 7:1

What does it mean to be unequally yoked? When I was a new believer (and a teenager) what I was taught that this verse meant (primarily) that I couldn’t date a non-Christian girl. Given my general dating status as a teenager this was a bit of a moot point but it was hard enough for a guy like me to get any attention from a girl let alone the tiny minority of them who were living for Christ. In short, this verse was a bummer. So the question is: is that what this verse is solely referring to? As I looked into this verse, I wanted to try and understand it as much as I could about what Paul was saying without the personal baggage I would otherwise bring into it.

The first thing that stands out is the use of the word ‘yoked’. The image this word choice conjures up is that of two oxen, yoked together, with one of the two bearing too much of the burden. One could probably get by with this scenario in a pinch, but the ultimate result would be injury to one or both of the oxen. The stronger ox might collapse under the strain. The weaker ox might become injured from pulling in an attempt to keep up.

Moving from this analogy, Paul begins a series of binary contrasts that serve to further illustrate the starkness of his point:

-          Righteous vs lawless

-          Light vs dark

-          Christ vs Belial (another name for Satan)

-          Believer vs unbeliever

-          Temple of God vs idols

Paul clearly intended these illustrations to clarify his request. The first thing to note is that these contrasts are absolute. Paul does not give us grey scenarios to try and understand. Instead, he gives us very clear cut examples. There can only be darkness in the absence of light. The believer has a clearly defined difference from unbelievers. Christ cannot associate with Satan. What the decisiveness of these examples should illustrate is that there is no middle ground in being yoked with unbelievers. The Corinthians (and us) cannot stand in-between and claim some degree of ambiguity. There is no synchronization.

Paul’s last illustration opens another avenue into illustrating the stark contrast that should be seen between the believer and the unbeliever. “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God,” To the Jewish Christian hearing this letter, this suggestion of defilement within the temple of God would call up images of God’s punishment and of the exile. The Temple of God was where the Spirit of the Lord resided. The purity of the Temple served as the symbol of the entire nation of Judah during the times of the Prophets. Its defilement and destruction spoke to God’s punishment of His people. The later rebuilding spoke to the lovingkindness and faithfulness of the Lord. All of these images are conjured.

To further illustrate this, Paul quotes a series of scriptures:

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This quotation is both from Leviticus AND Ezekiel. The context in Leviticus is the promise of the Lord’s blessing over the Israelites who had just been called out to be His people. The context in Ezekiel is the promise of the reconciliation of Israel and Judah—the reunion and rebirth of the promise. This quote establishes the Lord’s ownership of His people.

“Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,” This quote comes from Isaiah in the context of warning the people to quickly return to Jerusalem for the time is coming when the Lord will return and reestablish his reign. They were to leave the foreign lands they had been scattered into during the Exile and the habits and traditions and idols they had come to know in those disparate places. This was a call to repentance with the understanding that the Lord’s return was imminent. Interestingly, immediately after this, Isaiah tells of the suffering servant who would to come and be lifted us.

“and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” This last quotation comes from 2^nd Samuel where the Lord speaks of the relationship He would have with David and his line.

Each of these illustrations shows both the intensity with which the believer should not be yoked with the unbeliever and also emphasizes that the believer, like his spiritual progenitors, the people of Israel, is called out of this world and into the Kingdom of God.

So What?

So what are we to do with this section of 2^nd Corinthians? We cannot escape the severity to which Paul deals with this subject.

First off, I have bad news for my 15 year old self because I believe that this verse does apply to dating and marriage. Considering that the state of the Corinthian church when Paul wrote his first letter to them was a motley mix of synchronism, illicit sex, and idolatry and that the city of Corinth itself was known for these things, it seems very likely that this was at least one of Paul’s implications in writing this. Consider also that he follows this portion up with another section speaking of his concern that his last letter had grieved them (hopefully into repenting). And what did he grieve them by saying? Things such as: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” It is very likely that Paul is referring to inappropriate relationships between believers and unbelievers.

Even on a practical level, though, this makes sense. Just as in the analogy of the unequally yoked oxen, the ox pulling the heavier weight might weary and become injured. The believer, married to the unbeliever, may weary and lose heart without someone to shoulder some of the burden of the spiritual health of the marriage. Since marriage and sexual intimacy so closely knits two people together it only makes practical sense that the man and the woman should agree on some of the their deepest held beliefs.

However, Paul’s wording as he addresses this issue is so strong that it speaks to a more broad implication of this teaching. He never explicitly says that this concept only applies to marriage. In fact, his examples seem to imply that it is something that we all need to be concerned with. On that note we must ask ourselves two questions:

1.       What is drawing you away from God?

a.       We need to take a careful inspection of our own lives to determine what things are drawing us away from God and what things are drawing us towards God. Paul calls believers to recognize that they are called out of their former way of life and indeed out of the patterns of this world. We are not taken out of this world, of course, but our thinking should be instead focused on the spiritual and the eternal. Being that we are still physically located here on earth, it is easy to become distracted with the temporal and fleeting. Just as an unbelieving spouse exerts pressure (intended or not) upon the believer, so the other things we ‘yoke’ ourselves to also tug gently (or not so gently) at our souls. So we must ask:

                                                               i.      What relationships (of all types) are drawing me from God?

                                                             ii.      What entertainment is drawing me from God?

                                                            iii.      What business or job concerns are drawing me away from God?

                                                           iv.      What political affiliations or beliefs are drawing me away from God?

2.       Who are we being fed by?

a.       In a similar way, it is a well-known adage that we become like those we surround ourselves with. It is very hard to remain unaffected by those who live around you day in day out. Since we know this to be true, we must ask hard questions about those people we spend the most time with. Note, that I’m not saying that we necessarily stop spending time with nonbelievers. Our concern should rather be looking upon our own soul and looking at those individuals we let into the deepest areas of our confidence and lives. Who are we feeding from? What type of people do we draw our energy from and tend to emulate? Even among fellow believers, this question may lead us to spend less time (or less deep interaction) with those who don’t focus upon the Word or whom consistently display ungodly characteristics (even the ‘socially acceptable’ ones like complaining).

A good place to end is Paul’s summary exhortation in 7:1. “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” I know of no better way to conclude this section than by repenting of those things or people whom we have yoked ourselves to instead of the Lord. 

2 Corinthians 5:20

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God

2^nd Corinthians 5:20

Throughout most of chapter five of 2^nd Corinthians, Paul has been laying out the implications of his revelation that the life of the believer is not his own but rather Christ’s. Through Christ, our old sinful selves have died and through Christ we have been remade into new creations (v15,17). In this revelation, Paul found his calling: namely to be a missionary church-planter committed to persuading (v11) others to know the Lord. To some extent, Paul is speaking in v20 about his specific calling. However, when we view this concept of being an ambassador for Christ alongside the calling given to all believers in Matthew 28:18-20 (the “great commission”) and Acts 1:8, we see that all believers have been entrusted with the Holy Spirit not merely for their own benefit but also to represent and expand the Kingdom of the Lord on earth.

Not Just for Pastors any more

Sadly, through poor teaching and apathetic believers, we have come to equate being on mission for Christ as the role of vocational pastors. We have confused spiritual authority with organizational preferences. I don’t say this in any way to malign vocational pastors, but I do say this to convict all of us (most importantly me) of our abdication of Christ’s calling. Through fear, lack of faith, and most notably apathy, we have outsourced our Christ-given responsibilities to over-worked, under-paid pastors upon whom too much of our own responsibilities are laid. Nowhere in Scripture does it suggest or even imply that ‘spiritual matters’ are to be the sole focus of one particular type of people. While spiritual authority is most certainly taught, it does not necessarily equate that this person be a paid employee of an organizational body. In fact, this trend (at this point it’s more than a trend) is far closer to the religious priesthood that Jesus spent so much of his life confounding. This priesthood (represented in Jesus’ day as the Pharisees and Sadducees) came out the traditions of the nation of Israel who relied upon the priesthood for sacrifices (and thus the forgiveness of sins). One must only take a glance at the words of the Prophets to see that this was not an ideal arrangement. One can also see that the Lord held Israel itself, not merely it’s political and religious leaders, responsible for lax moral behavior and idolatry. All of this should serve as a stern warning to us who find it much easier to invite our friends to church then pass them off to the pastor to have their questions answered. It should scare those of us who value the prayers of the paid clergy as more effective than our own. It should cause us to question ourselves when we have a ‘great idea for the church’ that we’d prefer someone else help administer. 

Jesus’s command in Matthew 28 and Paul’s admonition to be ambassadors for Christ are laid squarely on the head of ALL who believe. We can learn much about what is true of us and what is expected of us by thinking a bit more deeply on what it means to be an ambassador.

Ambassadors are entrusted by their country

The first way in which we can examine the role of an ambassador is in the relationship between them and the one who sends them (in the political context, a king, or president, or prime minister). An ambassador is selected and empowered to act for their nation. They have been given the responsibility and authority to represent and make decision for their nation with other nations.

We too have been called and sent out as ambassadors. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Through Christ we have been saved; adopted as children of God. Not only does our status in relationship to God change though, our purpose too has been altered. Where, prior to Christ, our purpose has been only to ourselves; our pleasure and our personal fulfillment, we have now all been given the mission of taking the message of Christ in the world and facilitating reconciliation. As we have seen in 2^nd Corinthians, this task is not optional of believers for we know that our lives are no longer our own but rather our Lord’s. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of living safe, comfortable lives that more closely mirror our unbelieving neighbors than they do the Lord.

Not only are we chosen and called, we are also empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer simply human beings whose allegiance has been shifted. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we have been given access to supernatural resources designed to bring glory to the Creator. Too often we shy away from our roles as ambassadors out of fear or lack of confidence. This should not be as we have been given power to accomplish our task by the Lord of the Heavens (my own soul shakes in humiliation in this regard).

Ambassadors represent their country to outsiders

The second way in which thinking about the role of the ambassador can help us understand our calling in Christ is by thinking of the way in which an ambassador relates to the host country. In most situations, the ambassador lives in his assigned country. He is an alien, not a native, but sent out to reflect his homeland’s interests to others. This mirrors our situation in two regards.

First, we too live as aliens in a foreign land. We are eternal creatures, redeemed and destined for an eternity of praising the Lord in His presence. Yet, now, for a while, we live here in the transient, fallen world. Our home is in that far off country. Too often, we are tempted, through our short-sighted eyes, to forget that our home and our allegiance is elsewhere. When we do so, we lose focus. We forget the calling which we have been given. We begin to closely resemble those around whom we live, work, and play. Faulty thinking about which kingdom we belong to results in believers living lives unworthy of the calling to which they have been called. Here too, we all bear witness to our guilt.

Secondly, ambassadors represent their home country to their host country. In lieu of the direct authority, the ambassador is the voice of his nation. In His infinite wisdom and grace, the Lord has chosen to call us unworthy people to be his representatives on earth in this age. I cannot fathom why, since angels could and have proclaimed his glory in ways in which we pale to compare, except to say that perhaps it is our very fallen-ness that demonstrates His infinite grace, and that by demonstrating this overflowing grace He puts His glory on display for all creation. To put it another way, in using us to fulfill his commission, He demonstrates that He can use anything to accomplish His purposes (4:7-10).

In our relations to those whom we encounter on a daily basis, we are the ambassadors for God. To see us is to see the power and grace of God. We are living testaments to both His might and His mercy. We are the monument to His character. In and of ourselves we are nothing. Yet we have been given the role and the voice to bring the message of Christ to this world. When we become merely content to live lives of comfort and self-gratification, we ignore the purpose to which we were called. We do this to our own misfortune for one day we will, like the men in the parable of the talents, be made to answer before the throne of God.

We are not simply people who intellectually assent to a set of moral teachings. We are not simply regular people who happen to believe a certain set of creeds. We are missionaries called to go out into our families, and neighborhoods, and jobs, and into all of our interactions carrying with us the fire of the Holy Spirit and the Love of Christ. The methods and minutia will, of course, vary greatly depending upon the context. We may encounter many situations in which the only course of action is to entrust our neighbors in prayer to the Holy God. But perhaps, just perhaps, we may be the only one praying for them. We may be the only voice able to speak into the life of a coworker. The mystery of God’s timing and means far exceeds our meager comprehension but what remains is this: we all, unworthy as we are, have been called out and empowered by a Holy God to carry His message, His gospel to the world. This is our calling. This is our privilege. This is our duty to the one who saved us our sins and death, fulfills our every need, and empowers us to do His will. We should all be humbled yet eager.

2 Corinthians 5:14-17

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:14-17

As he has been doing, Paul continues to justify and elaborate upon the ministry to which he has been called. He states his purpose in v11 (to persuade others) and shows in v12 and v13 that it is not to gain the acclaim of men that they serve. Rather it is to serve God. They are doing what they were called to do not so much for the sake of the calling but because of the one who called them. Their judge is the Lord, not man. That is why they can claim that: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God.” They preach because they have been called by the Lord Most High.

From this place, Paul pauses to elaborate upon the implications of their message (the gospel). As missionaries, their actions (or calling) are the results of the gospel affecting them. But what truly happens in the heart of the one whom Christ calls? The answer to this question is relevant to all who call themselves believers because it is not only to missionary preaching or church-planting that Christ calls us. Our Lord calls each of us to be his disciples, to live a life of radical dependence and empowered service.

We concluded, He controls

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

Paul asserts that he and his co-laborers (or more generally, all believers) are controlled by the love of Christ. This is a bold claim, both for himself and, most certainly, for us. I know that I certainly don’t feel controlled by the love of Christ most days. Rather, I find myself controlled by greed, lust, comfort, fear, and a host of other forces that press in upon me. Even in the service of Christ, many of us are awash in conflicting motives and emotions that war within us with the will of God.

Look closely at the timeline of v14. Though the statement: “the love of Christ controls us” comes first, it only does so because Paul has come to a conclusion. This conclusion predates the love of Christ’s control. While this may seem to be grammatical minutia, please bear with me. What is it that Paul has come to the conclusion of? Namely, that one man (Jesus Christ) died and that all men (us) have been substitutionally united in His death. More than that, Paul has become convinced of the great implication of this fact: that those for whom Christ has died do not live for themselves but rather for Christ.

Paul came to understand this. He came to understand that he was no longer his own. Through Christ’s death, he too had died and therefore, through Christ’s resurrection, he too was resurrected. Paul’s life was no longer Paul’s life--- it was Christ’s. He no longer had any claim to control or comfort on his existence. His life was like a bottle that had been emptied of its contents and being thus emptied, was now able to be refilled by the love of Christ.

What this means for us is that calling ourselves Christians isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to intellectually assent to a set of beliefs. It is not enough even to do good works for the Lord. Without understanding that our lives are not our own, all of these good things are empty and void, simply another manifestation of our selfish desires. Even worse, to do so on our own masks our selfish and sinful desires with the sheen of altruism.

All of us, those who have been raised as Christians and those who have come later to the faith, must look deeply at our own hearts. It is dreadfully easy to mistake action for conviction, to substitute good deeds for right motives. Those of us who oftentimes doubt that the love of Christ controls us must cast aside the pretension of looking like a ‘Good Christian’ however long we have been in the Church and ask deep, hard questions. Am I still living for myself? Sure, I may not outwardly disobey God as much anymore but are my actions actually motivated by Christ or are they simply another activity that I am choosing to participate in? Only when we wrestle with the understanding that we hold no claim on our lives, no claim to likes or dislikes, personal preferences or prejudices, can we ever fully be controlled by the love of Christ. Without that understanding and surrender, our the Lord will answer us as he did the people of Israel when he spoke through Isaiah: “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote,”.

How we view our lives is Christ determines the axis point in our life.

This understanding that our life is no longer our own serves as the axis point of our lives. Until we reach that point of comprehension we are simply trying to pour new wine into old wineskins. Once we reach that tipping point however (though we must also surrender to it again every morning) we can begin to see the world in new ways. Paul gives three examples, two of which I will highlight here.

First, with the understanding that the life of the believer is no longer his own, we no longer can see men and women as simply a collection of their past actions or a compilation of attributes. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Not only should we be living lives free of rampant prejudice, we also must recognize each other not as Jane Doe living her own life, but rather the love of Christ residing in and acting through Jane. Our respect for each other should rise dramatically since we are truly witnessing Christ working through our humble vessels. We must train our eyes to see not merely the material affairs but also to recognize the unseen, the spiritual events unfolding before us.

Secondly, with our new understanding that it is not we who control our lives, but Christ, we can come to see the real world applications of this thought. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. If we can see that our lives are not our own, but rather Christ’s, then we can truly see ourselves not just as the same person we were, but rather a new creature entirely. This has many implications only some of which include: freedom from the guilt and shame of our past sins and the freedom to live out Christ’s will for us. Our old self that longed for control and selfish desires is dead and buried in the grave. In its place is the Holy Spirit who longs to comfort us, direct us, and guide us. We must remember each morning as we rise to put to death the old self and awake in the full reality of the new. We are not what we once were. We are a new creation, whose life and will exists now to serve the will of Christ. We have no claim of ownership to ourselves but rather owe all that we are to Christ who has given us this new birth. We can walk in freedom for the chains of sin and death have been removed by the blood of Christ. To the one who saved us, who freed us, who recreated us, we owe everything. Let us strive to give everything.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 5:6-9

So 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.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.

2^nd Corinthians 4:16-18, 5:6-9

In 2^nd Corinthians 4:7-10, Paul laid out the reason that we continue to live our lives as fragile, fickle, and frail individuals: it is to show that the power demonstrated in our lives belongs to the Lord and the Lord alone. Clearly it does not reside in us. Our sin demonstrates that our righteousness is not born of us. The flimsy nature of our physical bodies shows that it is not some personal might that gives us confidence. Our doubts and struggles illustrates that it is not some reservoir of inner resolve that compels us. It is only the Lord, through His grace and by His Spirit that we persevere.

Because of this Paul can speak with assurance about our current state. He confidently asserts in v16: “So we do not lose heart.” As before, Paul demonstrates the effect of his faith in his own circumstances (persecution) to encourage his audience to do the same. In this section, he addresses three major points:

With the Christian Life comes affliction

So 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,

Paul does not deny that through persecution, and indeed life itself, the outer self is wasting away. What is our outer self? It is our bodies, our physical manifestation on this earth. Taken a bit more metaphorically, our outer self can be the affairs of this world, our finances, our prestige, or our families. Whether through direct service of Christ or simply through the frailty of our form, we are wearing down, wearing away. Paul doesn’t whitewash the hardship this life of serving Christ will bear us. He doesn’t conform to the notion that opposition is tantamount to failure. Jesus, in fact, says the contrary: “In the world you will have tribulation.” And later: “I have given them the word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world.”

Jesus certainly isn’t indicating opposition as failure, He actually borders on asserting the contrary. We need to give up the notion that opposition whether spiritual, physical, or mental will somehow fade away if we only followed God more, only loved God more. On the contrary, we should expect these things.

Affliction Prepares Glory

Paul tells us what our heart should be like in the midst of affliction though: “our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comprehension.

First he asserts that in spite of the degradation of their physical lives, their inner lives are being renewed. This is the work of the Spirit in us. It renews. It brings us strength when we have none of our own to offer. The trick for us is to live in expectancy of that strength. Too often, when the affairs of the world turn against me, when ministry seems dead, when justice is absent, I become morose and live my life as a put-upon bitter soul. This should not be. When we are at our weakest, our most beaten-down, we must ask for and expect the renewing strength of the Spirit.

Secondly, Paul confirms that our affliction is A) light and B) momentary. It is only when we view affliction and indeed this life within the proper timeline of eternity that we can find solace in its brevity. For many of us though this is too much. We simply cannot see beyond the day; simply cannot see beyond the oppression; beyond the pain. In no way does this minimize the fact that the pain is real or that the injustice is real but it does view these things within their proper context--- eternal life. For many of us, this means we have to take a real hard look at our belief system. Is eternity something that we doctrinally assent to or is it a reality that is ingrained in our very being? If we do not believe (in the deepest possible way) in eternity, the trials and oppression of life in this world will always loom large. And why not? If this life is all there is, and pain and suffering such a big element of it, what reason is there to claim any hope or victory? We must constantly preach to our hearts that this is not so; that the only proper way to view suffering is to see it as a mere pin-prick in the expanse of eternal life.

Thirdly, Paul says not only is affliction momentary and light, but it also is preparing for us a reward further down the line. While he does not elaborate on it here, we can, by inference, imagine this as one of the great mysteries of heaven. Compared to what is coming, our troubles, intense as they may be, are nothing compared to the glory of the Lord that we will experience.

We walk by faith, not by sight

With this consolation, Paul moves on to describe a lifestyle in which suffering, and indeed all aspects of this life, are viewed in their proper context: “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.” And later: “we walk by faith, not by sight.”

This is where the rubber meets the road for us. Here Paul describes a way of viewing the world in which we are not overcome with worry or undue preoccupation with the physical, material realm (i.e. materialism) but rather “see” through our faith. The concerns of this world are not unimportant (or irrelevant) but trifling in comparison to the rest of our eternal life. Our reactions (here is the hard part) should remain grounded in light of eternity and not based on the immediate nature of the trouble or threat surrounding us. Opposition should not perplex us. Worry should not cripple us. Financial woes should not upset us. Sickness and death should not morbidly oppress us. We can all testify to our weakness in this regard.

So how do we see life in this way?

1.       Surround yourself with God’s word. We cannot believe what we do not know. If we want to be influenced by what God has to tell us then we must integrate it as fully into our lives as we able. Read it. Study it. Memorize it (ick). Meditate on it.

2.       Confess, confess, confess our weakness and frailty to the Lord. He knows what we are. He knows how fragile and fickle our bodies and minds are. Only by confessing our failures can we expect to experience different results.

3.       Expect affliction, react slowly. I don’t know about anyone else, but my first reaction to anything is usually bad. I let slip my words far too easily. I stress far too quickly. We must go into life expecting affliction but also expecting the resolve to overcome it (the renewal of v16). We must also delay reacting. Give yourself time to view the trouble within its proper context.

4.       Surround yourself with fellow foresighted believers. This is good advice for nearly anything within the Christian faith but is most pointedly so here. Too many believers live with a victim mentality. We expect the temptation, the persecution, the affliction, but live as practical materialists with no real belief in the eternal life and therefore give ourselves over to wallowing in our trouble and complaining about our problems. Neither of these should have any place within the Christian faith. We must be discerning with those we surround ourselves with (in this I mean with those whom we allow into the deepest parts of our lives, not just physical proximity) because we can quickly get pulled into a spirit of despair.

Nobody likes affliction. No one likes to be sick or have their plans foiled. We all long for heaven. We long to live in the presence of the Lord where there are no tears. While we are here however we are faced with the inevitability of troubles. We should however, take Paul’s final piece of advice in this section to heart, that in whether we are taken away to heaven or left to continue the work on this earth we should “make it our aim to please Him.”