S. Sekou Abodunrin
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Corinthians 4:16,17
The apostle Paul brings us into a different league in the verses quoted above. He was describing his response to the things that he was going through in the course of communicating Christ in his everyday life. He implies that when the blows of life come with their ferocity we are faced with an opportunity to faint or not to faint. Usually many people will just pass out under the weight of the trauma, throw their hands up in despair and give in to feelings. We are shown the perspective of a new creation man. The new creation man, the inward man is drawing upon the freshness that abounds in God.
The most tragic thing that happens to us is not the actual blows that we sometimes have to stand up under, but the fact that we loose perspective. Paul did not faint, and the reason why he did not faint was that he discovered that the inner man is never cornered or left bereft of resources in God.
Notice carefully the statement in verse 17. He calls the afflictions of a whole lifetime – light afflictions. He says that the afflictions or “blows of life” are but for a moment! Now, he did not say that they were momentary because he lived a short life. instead he is calling them momentary because he was measuring these things against the weight of eternity and the glory of God. This would mean that your spirit always has an eternal perspective on the things that you face in your outward man. Since this is the case, we can refuse to let the outward man have the last say. Your spirit can cure you of the fainting spells that characterise the average man when he is under pressure.
Since he called these afflictions light, it must mean that it is not the afflictions themselves that drown us, it is something else altogether. You see, afflictions have no power within them to sweep you down the river. What sweeps us down-river is the fact that we faint. You see, dead people do not faint, it is living people, folks who have life within them that are capable of fainting. You see, even if you have fainted thus far, you are not dead, you can rise up from inside and live in the fulness of God.
If you were to go through 2 Corinthians 11 and 12 you have a clearer idea of what Paul considered as “light and momentary” afflictions. I want you to look at these experiences more closely. You see, none of these afflictions came to Paul directly through demons or evil spirits – they all had a commonality in that they involved people.
How did Paul school himself to consider betrayal from his countrymen as “light affliction”? What was it that empowered this man to live in such largeness in spite of all that the devil threw at him using other men? How could he stand up under the things that men did to him?
Paul could minister salvation to his captor in Philipi because he counted whatever he had gone through as “light”. You see, for many people in Paul's shoes, when that prison was dismantled by an earthquake, the only recourse left is to flee for dear life – but Paul had enough presence of mind to minister Christ to his jailer. He knew that whoever would inflict pain on another human must be full of pain himself. He released this captain from captivity!
I assure you that until you develop this inner-man awareness you will find it near impossible to see the bad treatments that people deal out to you as “light” and “momentary”. It takes inner strength to ascend into this way of living. The trouble is that if you choose to estimate the things people do to you any other way you will often pay them back in kind and worse still find it superbly impossible to forgive.
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mt 18: 21 - 33
Peter felt that if he forgives a given brother 7 times in one day he had fulfilled the law of love. Jesus responds by correcting his false estimation of how far love would go, he shows him that love would go far higher than 7 times in one day.
There is a tendency to read this to mean that Jesus is saying to forgive one who hurts you 490 times in one day. I assure you that is also a false sense of security. If one goes to the Lord Jesus with such proposition, in the spirit of the answer that he gave Peter, he will say 70 times 490. You see, it destroys the core idea of forgiveness if you are planing to keep record of the number of times! What he was teaching was that however number of times that forgiveness is required we have a love-capacity to extend it from our heart where the substance of God's love is.
You see, if the Lord Jesus says that forgiveness is available 70 times 7 in one day and that this was a love standard, you can be certain that God who is love himself will extend to you forgiveness as often as you need it. He does not hold record against you. This empowers you to walk free of condemnation and ultimately to walk in the purity of God.
He illustrates this concept by starting with the king's mercy towards his servant. The servant owed 10000 talents. Again, the Idea behind 10000 is that he is giving a number that conveys great indebtedness to his hearers. He might as well have said £100 trillion. The idea is that the servant could not pay back. The king walks in compassion and releases the servant from this heavy burden. A king has the clout and means to carry out his wishes for the kingdom was his.
The freed servant finds someone who is indebted to him and holds the man by the throat! He wants the man dead. Think about it, how does a man who is in prison pay back what he owes you? This servant that was freed from so great a burden was little in his thinking.
The king expressed the heart of the matter in verse 33. The king expected the freed servant to extend compassion and mercy to his fellow-servant in just the same manner that he had been shown mercy by the king. The truth that he is teaching is that we are able to forgive anyone who hurts us because we are mindful of the great forgiveness that we have obtained from God. This would mean that the real reason why a christian would find it hard to forgive is because he has a low estimation of the benevolence of he king in cancelling his debt.
You see, the truth is that what we owed God, we could never pay back and yet he freed us of this burden. His intent is to showcase his mercy to us so that he is able to extend mercy through us unto others. We are able to show to others the mercy that we have obtained from God. When we fail to forgive then we unconsciously demonstrate the fact that we think that God still holds against us all that he has released us from. This misrepresents God and damages us. When men act in unkind ways towards us we must realise that they are giving out that which they are full of. When we act in mercy we provide them a door out of that lifestyle.
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Mt 18:34
Some facts stand out to us, it was not the king that tormented his servant. The king extended compassion to the servant, but the servant chose not to function in mercy towards one who needed forgiveness. The servant therefore brings himself into a situation where he is delivered to the tormentors. What was due him was extending forgiveness to his fellow!
The king did not have any torment, neither did he torment his servant.
You see the fact is that when a man holds men bound by refusing to forgive them, he is walking out of love and in unforgiveness. He is demanding justice and preferring justice to mercy. According to Romans 6 whoever you obey becomes your master therefore this man makes himself the servant of unforgiveness and condemnation. He effectively takes himself out from the protection of God's mercy and comes into the hold of the tormentor. His refusal to walk in mercy has empowered the enemy to wreck havoc in his life.
The truth is that he has brought his family into danger by his actions. In other words by his choice to walk in unforgiveness he is destroying all that he holds dear. It is strange that when we do not forgive people, we think that we are giving them what they deserve and that we are punishing them, whereas what we are really doing is that we are bringing ourselves into torment! It is not the party that we refuse to forgive who walks in torment, it is us! When a man chooses to faint and not walk in forgiveness he is doing untold damage to himself.
Because we have been forgiven of so much, we find that we have all the reason that we need to extend mercy to others by forgiving them. The secret of walking in forgiveness then is to esteem others worthy of receiving the same mercy that we have obtained from God.
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Corinthians 4:16,17
The apostle Paul brings us into a different league in the verses quoted above. He was describing his response to the things that he was going through in the course of communicating Christ in his everyday life. He implies that when the blows of life come with their ferocity we are faced with an opportunity to faint or not to faint. Usually many people will just pass out under the weight of the trauma, throw their hands up in despair and give in to feelings. We are shown the perspective of a new creation man. The new creation man, the inward man is drawing upon the freshness that abounds in God.
The most tragic thing that happens to us is not the actual blows that we sometimes have to stand up under, but the fact that we loose perspective. Paul did not faint, and the reason why he did not faint was that he discovered that the inner man is never cornered or left bereft of resources in God.
Notice carefully the statement in verse 17. He calls the afflictions of a whole lifetime – light afflictions. He says that the afflictions or “blows of life” are but for a moment! Now, he did not say that they were momentary because he lived a short life. instead he is calling them momentary because he was measuring these things against the weight of eternity and the glory of God. This would mean that your spirit always has an eternal perspective on the things that you face in your outward man. Since this is the case, we can refuse to let the outward man have the last say. Your spirit can cure you of the fainting spells that characterise the average man when he is under pressure.
Since he called these afflictions light, it must mean that it is not the afflictions themselves that drown us, it is something else altogether. You see, afflictions have no power within them to sweep you down the river. What sweeps us down-river is the fact that we faint. You see, dead people do not faint, it is living people, folks who have life within them that are capable of fainting. You see, even if you have fainted thus far, you are not dead, you can rise up from inside and live in the fulness of God.
If you were to go through 2 Corinthians 11 and 12 you have a clearer idea of what Paul considered as “light and momentary” afflictions. I want you to look at these experiences more closely. You see, none of these afflictions came to Paul directly through demons or evil spirits – they all had a commonality in that they involved people.
How did Paul school himself to consider betrayal from his countrymen as “light affliction”? What was it that empowered this man to live in such largeness in spite of all that the devil threw at him using other men? How could he stand up under the things that men did to him?
Paul could minister salvation to his captor in Philipi because he counted whatever he had gone through as “light”. You see, for many people in Paul's shoes, when that prison was dismantled by an earthquake, the only recourse left is to flee for dear life – but Paul had enough presence of mind to minister Christ to his jailer. He knew that whoever would inflict pain on another human must be full of pain himself. He released this captain from captivity!
I assure you that until you develop this inner-man awareness you will find it near impossible to see the bad treatments that people deal out to you as “light” and “momentary”. It takes inner strength to ascend into this way of living. The trouble is that if you choose to estimate the things people do to you any other way you will often pay them back in kind and worse still find it superbly impossible to forgive.
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mt 18: 21 - 33
Peter felt that if he forgives a given brother 7 times in one day he had fulfilled the law of love. Jesus responds by correcting his false estimation of how far love would go, he shows him that love would go far higher than 7 times in one day.
There is a tendency to read this to mean that Jesus is saying to forgive one who hurts you 490 times in one day. I assure you that is also a false sense of security. If one goes to the Lord Jesus with such proposition, in the spirit of the answer that he gave Peter, he will say 70 times 490. You see, it destroys the core idea of forgiveness if you are planing to keep record of the number of times! What he was teaching was that however number of times that forgiveness is required we have a love-capacity to extend it from our heart where the substance of God's love is.
You see, if the Lord Jesus says that forgiveness is available 70 times 7 in one day and that this was a love standard, you can be certain that God who is love himself will extend to you forgiveness as often as you need it. He does not hold record against you. This empowers you to walk free of condemnation and ultimately to walk in the purity of God.
He illustrates this concept by starting with the king's mercy towards his servant. The servant owed 10000 talents. Again, the Idea behind 10000 is that he is giving a number that conveys great indebtedness to his hearers. He might as well have said £100 trillion. The idea is that the servant could not pay back. The king walks in compassion and releases the servant from this heavy burden. A king has the clout and means to carry out his wishes for the kingdom was his.
The freed servant finds someone who is indebted to him and holds the man by the throat! He wants the man dead. Think about it, how does a man who is in prison pay back what he owes you? This servant that was freed from so great a burden was little in his thinking.
The king expressed the heart of the matter in verse 33. The king expected the freed servant to extend compassion and mercy to his fellow-servant in just the same manner that he had been shown mercy by the king. The truth that he is teaching is that we are able to forgive anyone who hurts us because we are mindful of the great forgiveness that we have obtained from God. This would mean that the real reason why a christian would find it hard to forgive is because he has a low estimation of the benevolence of he king in cancelling his debt.
You see, the truth is that what we owed God, we could never pay back and yet he freed us of this burden. His intent is to showcase his mercy to us so that he is able to extend mercy through us unto others. We are able to show to others the mercy that we have obtained from God. When we fail to forgive then we unconsciously demonstrate the fact that we think that God still holds against us all that he has released us from. This misrepresents God and damages us. When men act in unkind ways towards us we must realise that they are giving out that which they are full of. When we act in mercy we provide them a door out of that lifestyle.
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Mt 18:34
Some facts stand out to us, it was not the king that tormented his servant. The king extended compassion to the servant, but the servant chose not to function in mercy towards one who needed forgiveness. The servant therefore brings himself into a situation where he is delivered to the tormentors. What was due him was extending forgiveness to his fellow!
The king did not have any torment, neither did he torment his servant.
You see the fact is that when a man holds men bound by refusing to forgive them, he is walking out of love and in unforgiveness. He is demanding justice and preferring justice to mercy. According to Romans 6 whoever you obey becomes your master therefore this man makes himself the servant of unforgiveness and condemnation. He effectively takes himself out from the protection of God's mercy and comes into the hold of the tormentor. His refusal to walk in mercy has empowered the enemy to wreck havoc in his life.
The truth is that he has brought his family into danger by his actions. In other words by his choice to walk in unforgiveness he is destroying all that he holds dear. It is strange that when we do not forgive people, we think that we are giving them what they deserve and that we are punishing them, whereas what we are really doing is that we are bringing ourselves into torment! It is not the party that we refuse to forgive who walks in torment, it is us! When a man chooses to faint and not walk in forgiveness he is doing untold damage to himself.
Because we have been forgiven of so much, we find that we have all the reason that we need to extend mercy to others by forgiving them. The secret of walking in forgiveness then is to esteem others worthy of receiving the same mercy that we have obtained from God.
