Message from Renee Trapp, Business Manager

DO NOT LOSE HEART

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart…But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4: 1, 7-8, 16-18


**When God through His mercy calls and commissions his servants, he also supplies the strength necessary for them to persevere in the face of hardships and persecutions.

**The all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. The absolute insufficiency of man reveals the total sufficiency of God.

**Seen in the perspective of eternity, the Christian’s difficulties, whatever they may be, diminish in importance. By comparison, the eternal glory is far greater than all the suffering one may face in this life.

**The experiences and circumstances of this present life, often painful and perplexing, are what are visible to the Christian; but these are temporary and fleeting. To fix our eyes on these visible things would cause us to lose heart.


**By contrast the unseen realities, which are no less real for being invisible, are eternal and imperishable.


(Excerpts taken from the NIV Concordia Self-Study Bible)