Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Friday, January 23, 2 Corinthians 4:17

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison."

As I pondered this, I thought of Paul's "light, momentary affliction", which we see in chapter 11: "far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, and in cold and exposure. (11:23b-27)

I remember a passage I struggled with initially: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the body, that is, the church." (Colossians 1:24) I've come to understand that this tends to mean that people afflict you in their hatred for Christ, so they continue to afflict Him through you.

Paul understood that, compared to Christ taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world so that we could be reconciled forever to God, the sufferings he endured for the sake of His Savior paled in comparison. Also, he knew that God was with him every step of the way, and that all things would work to his good when all was said and done.

With this in mind, we can look at Paul's great exclamation of praise ending chapter 8 of Romans: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (8:33-39)

In the context of eternity, the affliction is indeed light. "All flesh is like grass and all of its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever."

"And this word is the good news that was preached to you." (1 Peter 1:24-25)

Believer, while we are shedding pounds and pounds of worldly flesh, we are filling up with the "weight" of the glory of the gospel of Christ. They can take all the things of the world from us, but they can never take away the Lord.

And He is all in all.

Memory Helps

"For this light momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
far beyond all comparison."

Here are a few "word picture" suggestions. For "light momentary affliction", I'll use a very light "whip". For "an eternal weight of glory", I'll use a very heavy "Old Glory", the term used for the "American flag".

I've "prepared" a balancing scale to weigh the two. I put the whip on one side, and the flag on the other. Well, there is "no comparison". The flag side sinks straight to the floor.

To link the word picture, I have "DouG the graduate" for all verses "17" because 1=t or d, and 7 is either k or hard g, with vowels fillers. He bursts open a stage door (for chapter FOUR) between the 2 Corinthian pillars, in his graduate's hat, bringing the scale with him. He "prepares" the scale by placing the whip and Old Glory on each side, and of course, there is no comparison. The "weight of Glory" sinks the scale immediately. That links the verse to 2 Corinthians 4:17.