Monday... We are and we are not.

Here is what the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth and to us here on a Monday morning.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (NLT) says, "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."

The Amplified Bible defines it a little more. It says, "We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair; hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed."

But, how can that be? Oh, the we ares are easy to understand. It is where so many live each and every day but the we are nots are different. So that is a very good question.

Well, Paul says a very important but in verse 7 and it makes all of the difference. He says, "But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves." The we are nots come from having a real, personal, good news relationship with God.

We are not crushed, we are not driven to despair, we are never, never, abandoned by God, and we are not destroyed. And all of these we are nots "makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves."

And then verses 17-18 in The Message says, "These hard times are small potatoes compared to the lavis celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."

Yes, the we ares we are going through will be worth it. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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