It's Not Forever

Paul was “an expert” in suffering, writing about it often from experience. And, having endured much, he has something to tell us:

• When we are suffering, the first thing we need to remember is that suffering - as part of this world - is temporary. We tend to believe in things we can see, touch, and measure. We are not so sure about things that we cannot hold in our hands. Matters of faith, love, and the spirit do not seem as real to us as the phone you are now holding in your hand or the computer in front of your eyes. The chair you’re sitting on (if you are indeed seated!), the house you live in, the roads you will travel, the scenes you will take in – all these things we tend to think of as permanent, but in reality, they will all pass away: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3.10). All that appeared lasting will be gone forever, including suffering.
• In our suffering, we must look not to the things that will pass away: our homes, our health, our wealth, the kingdoms of this world. Instead, we must look to those things that will endure forever: the love of God, our souls, our heavenly dwelling, our resurrected bodies and our faith in a God who lives forever.

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!