because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. [2 Corinthians 4:18 NET]
This is the last blog on Corinth and the Corinthians. We are planning with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to commence a brief study from an Old Testament book - the prophecy of Jeremiah. Today we are focusing on the last verse of chapter 4 of Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.
It is evident that Paul's teaching is out of step with our culture in the 21st century. I was collecting one of my grandsons from his school and he spent the whole 20 minutes of the journey back home spotting and identifying expensive cars . He went on to tell me about the cost of a whole range of cars - I pretended to be interested and pointed out that the owners of these cars had forked out significantly more on their car than his gran and I had on our home. I also suggested that he would need to earn a lot of money if he was ever to purchase any of the cars he was talking about. This fixation with cars is fine in a 9 year old boy but it is just part of our materialistic society. Paul would not have been interested in any of this. For Paul property prices were irrelevant. For Paul was not interested in the tangible things or the things we can see.
This blog was written in the week when a young British girl was hurled into stardom after she won the US Open tennis championship. Emma Radukanu is only 17 but she is now earning obscene sums of money for promoting products in the media. She has become a commodity - a brand. What about her as a person? What about her relationship with her family? Even more importantly what about her relationship with God. We need to pray that this young girl will be preserved from the psychological harm which can result from this sudden elevation to stardom and her newfound wealth.
Paul says that what can be seen is temporary. Every time we travel by car from Falkirk to Airdrie to visit our daughter and her husband and family, we pass a farmhouse which has a collection of scrapped Volvo cars. They used to belong to a proud owner and now they are rusting in peace under the trees. I often wonder what happened to my first new car - a Maestro. When was it crushed and its bodywork recycled? It was nearly damaged when I drove it out of the showroom in Ardrossan and someone reversed a car at speed in front of me. It was not manufactured to last - and so many material things are like that. Some may last longer than others but decay sets in at some stage.
Paul has spoken about the inner being. For him his soul mattered far more than his possessions. He is still enjoying the blessings which he experienced through faith in the risen Son of God. In his letter to the Ephesians, he speaks about spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms in Christ.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [Ephesians 1:3 NIV]
Maybe we will only discover the full catalogue of spiritual blessings in Christ when we are 'in the Father's house.' However, we do get some indication of the blessings we have inherited when we became a believer in Jesus Christ.
Election - chosen in Him before the creation of the world
Sanctification - to be holy and blameless in his sight
Sonship - In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship (we are sons of God)
Redemption - In him we have redemption through his blood (Jesus has paid the price to set us free from sin)
Sins forgiven - the forgiveness of sins
Abundant Grace - in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
Revelation - With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will
[Ephesians 1: 4-8 NIV Adapted]
There are so many wonderful truths contained in these verses but today we will simply list them and thank God for all the spiritual blessings he has lavished upon us. There will be ample time in eternity to revel in these blessings and "the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." What a prospect lies before the Christian and they are all because of God's grace. They are unmerited on our part.
Picture by Karren McPherson - permission kindly granted
Thanks, Bryan. Tozer is always challenging.
Thank you Robert for this thought provoking blog. While reading this I was reminded of the following quotation from A. W. Tozer:
“Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”
― A. W. Tozer, Pursuit of God