HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1419
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are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this
world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t
believe. They are unable to see the glorious light
of the Good News. They don’t understand this
message about the glory of Christ, who is the
exact likeness of God.
5 You see, we don’t go around preaching
about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ
is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for
Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let there be
light in the darkness,” has made this light shine
in our hearts so we could know the glory of God
that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts,
but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.* This makes it clear
that our great power is from God, not from
ourselves.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles,
but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but
not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down,
but never abandoned by God. We get knocked
down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death
of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen
in our bodies.
11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death
because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus
will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live
in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
13 But we continue to preach because we have
the same kind of faith the psalmist had when
he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”* 14 We
know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,* will
also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your
benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and
more people, there will be great thanksgiving,
and God will receive more and more glory.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our
bodies are dying, our spirits are* being renewed
every day. 17 For our present troubles are small
and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us
a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last
forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we
can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things
that cannot be seen. For the things we see now
will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see
will last forever.
New Bodies
For we know that when this earthly tent
we live in is taken down (that is, when we
die and leave this earthly body), we will have a
house in heaven, an eternal body made for us
by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We
grow weary in our present bodies, and we long
5
4:7 Greek We now have this treasure in clay jars. 4:13 Ps 116:10.
4:14 Some manuscripts read who raised Jesus. 4:16 Greek our
inner being is. 5:3 Greek we will not be naked. 5:12 Some
manuscripts read proud of yourselves.
2 COR INTHIANS 5
to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will
not be spirits without bodies.* 4 While we live
in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but
it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these
bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put
on our new bodies so that these dying bodies
will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has
prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has
given us his Holy Spirit.
6 So we are always confident, even though
we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For we
live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are
fully confident, and we would rather be away
from these earthly bodies, for then we will be
at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are here
in this body or away from this body, our goal
is to please him. 10 For we must all stand before
Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have
done in this earthly body.
We Are God’s Ambassadors
11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade
others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope
you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us,* so you can answer those
who brag about having a spectacular ministry
• Adversity
2 C OR I N THI A N S 4:8
As Christians, we have resources to help
us keep going when our human nature
demands that we give up and quit. We
have the power of God’s presence and
Christian fellowship. Proverbs 17:17
reminds us that friends are there to love
us through our troubles and that brothers
or sisters in Christ are there to carry us
through them. Psalm 106:44 reminds us
that God listens when we call and pays
attention to our problems. Alone, without
Christian friends or God, we are vulnerable
to brokenness. With God and his people
we can withstand the worst oppression.
Ultimately the key to dealing with adversity
rests on our relationship with God and
his people. So the most significant
question of all is not “Why didn’t God
prevent adversity?” but “Will I stay close
to him and his people so they can help
me through the adversity that will surely
come?” Great joy is our reward when we
pass through the fiery test of adversity
with our faith intact (James 1:2-3).