Light Affliction

There's a tendency for us to think its the end of the world when we go through things that test our faith. There is also tendency for us to think that we are the only ones who are going through the trouble or who can understand what it means to go through what we are going through.

Even though it has been said over and over again that bad stuff will always happen, we still feel bad when bad things happen to us. We feel that because we're Christians, we should be exempt from troubles. Then when we go through the trouble, we feel that it should only last for a short while. However, as much as we would like this to be the case, at times, issues last longer than we would wish. It seems as if we are never going to survive what we are going through.

But the Bible tells us that in II Cor 4 v 17 that our afflictions are "light" and "but for a moment". Some of you might say, "Hold on there. Did you just say light? And I've been in this situation for over a year. That is defintely far more than a moment. I understand that some of us have been going through things that seem as if they have been going on for ever but we need to understand that it's a matter of perspective. Our perpective is that the weight of the issues we are facing is crushing and it seems that we will never survive. But God's perpective is that what we are going through is light and temporary because of the glory that will come after the trouble. The Bible says that God does not allow a test to come our way without a making a way of escape for us. If that then is God's perspective, that then means that we are suffering through what we are going through because we have the wrong perspective. Our perspective should be the same as God's. That what we are going through is light and is fleeting because of the glory that will be revealed in us through the issues we go through.

It's time for us to stop suffering through what we are going through. It's time for us to change our perspective. We need to add to our faith, patience, and hope and wait out our troubles. Then if we faint not, we shall receive the promise.

(JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press. You can get DECEPTIO from http://www.westbowpress.com/. You can follow him on Twitter at @CruzJCReal.)