II Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not
If you have ever gone back to your childhood home, you may have been surprised by how small it was. You thought it was big as a child, but when you went back as an adult, you realized, “Wow, this is a small house.” Maybe you’ve reunited with your third-grade teacher and realize she is not nearly as tall as you thought she was. Or maybe you remember back to your first ten years of life and think, “That was a long time.” Then you consider those years in light of your adult perspective and think, “That was so quick.” That is all called perspective and you are doing it even now. Things you think are big, long, or important, bearable or unbearable are not objectively taken in by you. It is all a matter of perspective.
In II Corinthians 4 we are reminded that the bigger your perspective, the lighter your load. Maybe you are being crushed by life right now. Maybe you have a burden or anxiety. Maybe you are a little smug because you are okay and feel like you are more than capable. In both cases you may be missing the big perspective and carrying your load in ways God never intended.
In the first place we faint not. We don’t quit because it is God’s Spirit and God’s message, not our own. In II Corinthians 4:1 the Apostle Paul, speaking of the new covenant, the New Testament, the gospel, and the Spirit of the Lord which gives it life, says, “Therefore we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” What matters? God’s message, God’s power, and God’s perspective matter in the sight of God.
In II Corinthians 2:17 he says, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” So, what matters is the sight of God? Oftentimes people preach the Bible and in the back of their minds are hoping to gain notoriety, prominence, or power. That is all wrong-headed. It is God’s message, not our message. It is God’s Spirit, not our body or our ability. It is God through us.
He elaborates on this in verses 10-11. Verse 10 says, speaking of the life of Jesus, that it “might be made manifest in our body.” So, it is Christ’s life in my body in this world. In verse 11 he says, “That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” This is in the body we have right here, right now, but it is His spirit that animates the gospel message to people. He speaks in verse 14 of the risen Lord Jesus, “Shall raise up us also by Jesus.” So, we don’t faint or quit giving the good news because it is God’s Spirit, not our ability, God’s message, not our intelligence; it is God’s life in us.
Moreover we faint not because we have a big picture. Verse 16 says, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man [this body in which we live] perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” So, we don’t quit because we have a big picture.
You have the inward as opposed to the outward. In verse 17 you have light affliction and weight of glory. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” So, you have light affliction which is momentary and that leads to an eternal weight of glory.
You have the seen and the unseen. Verse 18 says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” How can you look at something that is not seen? That is called faith. It continues, “For the things which are seen are temporal [temporary and short]; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” When my daughter was little, she asked, “Why does God say that life is so short when it seems so long?” That is a matter of perspective, the perspective of a seven-year-old or even a seventy-year-old compared to the perspective of an eternal God. Only God has the perspective that can lighten your load in this life.
Faith is living beyond what you can see to what God knows. What does God know? Everything! What can you see? Not too much. I can’t call faith blind. Sight is what is blind. We have never lived in a day when we can be more deceived by what we see than today. No one in their right mind would say, “I know it is true because I saw it on the internet.” You need something more objective, eternal, true, solid to guide your perspective.
I don’t know what you are going through today, but the bigger your perspective, the lighter your load. We don’t faint because it is God’s Spirit, not merely our ability, God’s message, not merely our words. And we faint not because of the big picture, the inward, the eternal, and the unseen. Faith is living beyond what you can see to what God knows. We want to follow God who has perfect sight for the way we should take.