Bilble Study 20 July 2007

[Kleburg]

Tipping the Scale - The Weight of Glory​

2 Cor 4:16-18

v16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ​

• outwardly we are wasting away

In chap 5, Paul calls our bodies "earthly tents"; they aren't built to last​

• inwardly we are being renewed day by day Who do think is doing this for us? and Why?​

Spiritual renewal yakes more than a weekly service; it takes daily exercise
​

Spiritual Breathing some may call it during pray with God. Kind of like exhaling ALL the weight to God and you inhale ALL of His glory.​

v17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ​

• Troubles are tools God uses to transform us.​

In other words you can't climb a smooth mountain. Your Opinions on this?​

• Note this contrasting perspectives:​
  • Light troubles vs. the exceedingly heavy weight of glory​
    • God may not off-load our burdens, but He will off-set them by His glorious grace.​
  • Momentary troubles vs. eternal glory
    • We can handle anything for just a moment.​

So What?​

v18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.​

• A. W. Tozer: " At the root of the Christian life lies beliefin the invisible. The object of the Christian's faith is unseen reality. ​

Consider it this way: ​

We believe in the unbelievable
We love the unloveable
We see the unseen

• Heb. 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see
  [*]Focusing on the eternal keeps us motivated in the temporal. Fixing our eyes on the there & then keeps us going in the here & now. Why?

Now What?

• Every believer in Christ needs to keep a scale in his or her soul with a permanent weight of glory on one side. If we do so, then we could simply place whatever life brings us on the other side. Please give your opinion on what this means?

Hope this is a better length for you and your opinion really helps me keep going. God Bless All

 

[Strong Fortress]

A quote from a book I read comes to mind. " We sacrifice the Eternal on the Alter of the Immediate." We put off what will give us eternal rewards and Glorify God to do whatever we want now.

I thinks this is a message that many of us need reminded of. The more I am away from prayer, worship, and reading the Word, the more bogged down I am by the World. The more I am likely to stumble. The more likely bad things seem to happen to me or I just deal with them poorly.

If we looked as dirty on the outside as our soul often does on the inside, I think we would be much more likely to change our ways and renew ourselves more ofter.