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Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us


A show for marketplace Christians to energize and encourage you to live out your faith every day, right where you are. Begin your day with Christ-centered ideas to share your joy with those around you. Add in weekly interviews with other like-minded Christians so you can share in their joy and learn how they make Jesus visible in their workplace every day.

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Mar 28, 2022

Sometimes our challenges can be daunting. Other times though, when we remember that the result is worth the effort it pays off. 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry with Follower of One. Welcome to the Follower of One Podcast. Today, we're continuing this series. We began with 2 Corinthians 4:16 through 18.

Today, I want to read verse 17 from the English Standard Version, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." 

In the previous episode, we read this entire three verse passage. Paul's talking about how we do not lose heart, even though our outer man is wasting away. The wasting away he's talking about there, he also classifies in this verse as light momentary affliction. Almost every translation uses the words, "light" and "momentary" in this description. 

What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about the circumstances that we're in. Almost all of us face circumstances that are not desirable. The world is broken and we broke it. We messed it up. And Jesus is in the process of restoring it. Each of us has a light, momentary affliction. 

Now I do not want to make light of your affliction. Each of us has an affliction. Each of us is struggling through a challenge. But just like a caterpillar must struggle to become a butterfly or just like a weight lifter has to struggle to lift more weight; it's the work and the effort that produces the result. And Paul's pointing out here that our attitude has something to do here. Our affliction is light and momentary, compared to the eternal and heavy glory that we will receive. It's beyond all comparison. There is no comparison. This passage becomes an encouragement to us, and we will talk about how to be encouraged by this passage tomorrow.

Today, I want to focus on remembering that what we face today, relative to what we will face when we get to heaven, when we get to be with Jesus, what we face today is light and momentary.

I joke often about most of my problems being what I would call first-world problems. No, one's trying to kill me. I'm not, under attack. As I record this, the Russians are attacking the nation of Ukraine. And there's no justification for this. It's unnecessary and embarrassing for the Russian people. And I'm sorry for them. And I'm praying every day about that. 

There are difficult afflictions, but even those difficult afflictions, do not compare to the eternal weight of glory that we will receive one day when we're with Jesus.

And that's what I want to use this passage for today. I believe God gave us this passage to remind us that whatever we face today, he's got it. And ultimately what we receive as a result of that will be eternally heavy and meaningful. We have an eternally meaningful glory coming to us for our light and momentary affliction. Use that as an encouragement today. 

I'm praying for the people who listen to this podcast. Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference in the world because you follow Jesus.

Everything that we do, because we follow him matters forever. Let's trust that today. Let's trust and remember that whatever we're going through today, it's light and momentary compared to what we will experience when we're with Jesus. 

Thanks again for following Jesus. Don't forget to check us out at https://followerofone.org, too.