Look to what can be done rather than what cannot be done!

Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, was being interviewed this morning. She made the comment that America has always been a country where the people have been optimistic, looking to what can be done rather than what cannot be done, dreaming dreams and pursuing those dreams. She made the comment that should America lose that trait and begin to think in terms of the world and America as being all now that it can be, that this is the way things are, we will have lost. I think how true that comment is for us Christians. Christians have always been a group of individuals who look to what can be done rather than what cannot be done, Christians have always been a group of individuals who dream Heaven dreams and pursue bringing about the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. In a world that continually challenges our faith, our traditions, our beliefs, it may seem that we have become complacent. It may seem that the challenges are beyond what we can overcome. It may seem that we have given up. But, what seems to be is not what is. God continues to work in and through people of faith to effect change and transform world view, church view, community view, social view, everything. The challenge is before all of us; and as people of God we are called to meet the challenge, to continue the transformation that God envisions for the world, to persevere with the knowledge and faith that God is at work.

Paul's words in II Corinthians 4 brings much comfort to those of us who continue to labor in Christian love:

For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure-this light and power that now shine within us-is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you. But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, "I believed in God, and so I speak."

We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you. All of these things are for your benefit. And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what 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.