Relevant or not? Too long or not?

 

Ialways hate posting a long passage from the Bible. I’m afraid you won’t read itall, because you will find it boring, or had to understand, or irrelevant. 

Last night, I read2nd Corinthians, chapter 4, and it said so much to me. I wanted to pick out themost pertinent verse to try to pick apart and explain in my own words. Butreally? Like my words are ever better than God’s?

Sohere is the entire chapter. I hope you read it all.

          God, with his mercy, gave us thiswork to do, so we don’t give up. 2 But we have turned away from secret andshameful ways. We use no trickery, and we do not change the teaching of God. Weteach the truth plainly, showing everyone who we are. Then they can know intheir hearts what kind of people we are in God’s sight. 3 If the Good News thatwe preach is hidden, it is hidden only to those who are lost. 4 The devil whorules this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They cannotsee the light of the Good News—the Good News about the glory of Christ, who isexactly like God. 5 We do not preach about ourselves, but we preach that JesusChrist is Lord and that we are your servants for Jesus. 6 God once said, “Letthe light shine out of the darkness!” This is the same God who made his lightshine in our hearts by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face ofChrist.

          7 We have this treasure from God, butwe are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the great poweris from God, not from us. 8 We have troubles all around us, but we are notdefeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living.9 We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but weare not destroyed. 10 We carry the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that thelife of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. 11 We are alive, but for Jesus weare always in danger of death so that the life of Jesus can be seen in ourbodies that die. 12 So death is working in us, but life is working in you.

          13 It is written in the Scriptures, “Ibelieved, so I spoke.” Our faith is like this, too. We believe, and so wespeak. 14 God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and we know that God willalso raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we willstand before him. 15 All these things are for you. And so the grace of God thatis being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God forhis glory.

          16 So we do not give up. Our physicalbody is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new everyday. 17 We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain aneternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. 18 We set our eyes not onwhat we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time,but what we cannot see will last forever.

(2Corinthians 4, New Century Version)