Workout

Several years ago, my ambitious kids got me to join them on a semi-regular workout regimen. I'm not a natural, but I've found there are some parts of pain and sweating that I enjoy: One of the best is that when the timer goes off, we get to quit...

There's a sense of that "joy of ending" in Paul's address to the believers in Corinth: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." You get the picture--and the older you are, the clearer you probably see it.

Then Paul gets specific on the nature of the workout: "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison..."

The troubles of this life work glory for us and work us out for glory. There is a sense in which we are being prepared for the good to come by the trials we experience now.

God is working us out to increase our capacity, to grow our ability, so that we'll be prepared for the heavy-weight joys of the world to come. The way He does that is through temporary "light-weight" trials in this life. These will have their end. And when they do, we'll find that we are prepared for what God has prepared for us: unspeakable glory.
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Are you ready for a short workout?

© March 2017 by Robert G. Robbins