In all of the Bible, it seems to me, few people were more conscious of their weakness than was the apostle Paul. This once proud man, virtually indestructible and unassailable in the eyes of his peers, was brought low by God in the most confronting conversion narrative in the New Testament.
Acts 9:3-9 (NIV)
As Saul neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" 5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," He replied. 6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Soon after, Saul (soon to become Paul the apostle) came to faith in Christ. He was suddenly very, very aware of his sin and arrogance that was previously cloaked by his Pharisaical self-righteousness. It was stripped away by God’s truth and grace, and Saul saw how utterly flawed and carnal he was. Paul did many hard yards over the years as God reshaped and remoulded him into who he was meant to be. Finally, in very large measure, Saul was gone, and Paul the apostle was now visible. Paul becomes very aware, acutely conscious of a particular mystery that endlessly fascinated him. No longer was he the self-righteous pious, apparently blameless religious Jew who knew only the law. Now he was an ordinary earthen vessel – a clay jar. But here was the stunning thing: this clay jar carried in it more Holy Spirit than he had ever known in all his life previously.
Yes, the earthen vessel had become very cracked and scratched, but the heavenly treasure was unimpaired. As in the case of Gideon in the book of Judges, when the pitcher was broken the lantern shone bright. Paul confesses in 2 Corinthians 4, that he was troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down, always bearing the scars of Jesus (his body had taken a beating through his ministry years), and being perpetually delivered over to death. But he gratefully accepted all these disabilities and privations because he knew that they gave greater opportunities to Jesus Christ to show forth, through him, His resurrection power. With the daily decay of the outward, there came the renewal of the unseen and spiritual. It never dimmed, it just got brighter. Gradually, as we are conformed to the sufferings and death of Christ, we begin to realise in experience the fullness of what He is, and what He can be or do through us. Our one thought must always be the glory of Christ in the salvation of others. And this was Paul’s priority.
In the whole process, the inward life of the apostle Paul continued to sustain even his body as he served Christ. The catalytic effect of all that was joy – sheer joy.
But wait there is more. The apostle considers the suffering and hardships outweighed by something greater …
2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
Light and momentary troubles? Is he serious? The afflictions are light in comparison to the foretaste of glory to come! Such is the power of the resurrection functioning in him, it radiates a deep and satisfying blessedness that cannot be stifled. The momentary sufferings are personally experienced as transient as he is experiencing the eternal. The sufferings are the price of the weightier thing – the life of Christ in him.
Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
And there it is, dear reader! There it is! The more Christ lives in us, the more treasure we have in our clay jar, the weightier all that is compared to any hardship, any affliction we endure for His sake. We experience them as transient – we actually have that experience – because what is eternal is far more powerful, it is weightier by far, more beautiful. It is glorious and a foretaste of the fulness of it to come.
Just imagine that for a moment. The life of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, is so powerfully at work in us clay jars that the weight of the glory of that simply swamps any affliction, it overpowers any anxiety – it is the eternal triumphing over the temporal. This is our treasure! And so, the apostle concludes this passage in 2 Corinthians 4 with this encouragement:
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
“And so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Now we know why. Eternal glory stuff is treasure. It is in us. It outweighs anything this world throws at us for the sake of Jesus. This is a profound mystery. And Paul is the one who discovered it and, inspired by Holy Spirit, records it for our encouragement today, in a world not too dissimilar to the one we are living in.
Galatians 4:19 (NLT)
[Paul] “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labour pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully formed in your lives.”
Paul knew what he was talking about.
Be encouraged!
Ps. Milton