“Note well what it is that will make all the miseries of this world easy to endure; it is that we should transfer our thoughts to the eternity of the kingdom of heaven. If we look around us, a moment can seem a long time, but when we lift our hearts heavenwards, a thousand years begin to be like a moment.” That is the perspective John Calvin had 500 years ago and it’s the view that the apostle Paul had 2000 years ago and it can be ours today.
When the apostle Paul writes of his affliction being light and momentary (2 Corinthians 4:17), it was not that it was trivial or easy to bear, but it’s light and momentary compared to the glory that is coming. His affliction was such that he was “so utterly burdened beyond our strength” that he despaired of life itself (2 Cor 1:8). His affliction included being beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, thrown in jail, flogged, hunger and thirst to name but a few from 2 Corinthians 11. It’s not the trials were easy, but they were bearable and could be counted as light and momentary compared to the glory that is to come. How great that glory must be for the believer in Christ!
It’s as if Paul gets out an old set of weighing scales, puts all his troubles on one side, they look so heavy and enormous as he faces them. But then, he looks to eternal things and it’s as if the troubles fly up into the air, the eternal weight of glory is so heavy!
Here is the apostle’s secret to not growing weary, to not giving up despite enormous pressure and burdens. He intentionally looks, straining his eyes to focus on the future. It is not a casual glance, but it’s like a surfer straining to see what waves are coming, or like an astronomer gazing through a telescope. Paul is straining to focus on the glory that is ahead. If he looks around him, he sees trouble, persecution and stress, but if he focuses on the future, he sees a glory so great that his present troubles become light and moment by comparison.
Dear Christian friend, is this not what you and I need to do? To look ahead to what is to come, to ask the Lord to stamp eternity on our eyes. Paul’s troubles were largely due to his Christian ministry, but if he were ever tempted to speak less of Jesus, or compromise the truth, he would strain his eyes to the future and see a glory that far outweighs the trouble. What trouble or distress are you facing? How great does it feel? Look ahead dear brother and sister, the future with Christ is so glorious that one day the thing that feels so painful now, will seem light and momentary by comparison.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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