2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1

¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

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¹For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Discouragement is a part of everyone’s life, even Christians. In this life we experience despair, despondency, weakness, and a general feeling of hopelessness. It should come as no surprise, because Satan is determined to get us back into his kingdom of darkness. The Apostle Paul reminds his readers that during those times of discouragement, there is hope in the Lord’s promise of life to come that goes beyond human description.

This hope, Christian hope, finds its roots in Christ’s life, death, and especially in His resurrection from the grave. Because “knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence,” (14) our hope is focused on the future. What Paul says is that our eventual death and Christ’s Second Advent do not fill us with fear, because we know this will be the beginning of our eternal life in paradise. Our hope of eternal life is part and parcel to our Christian faith. The Apostles’ Creed’ ends with the declaration, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

By faith we believe that we will also be resurrected on the Last Day and live with Jesus forever. By our Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, we look upon His resurrection as our own (see Romans 6:1-11). Jesus was God’s chosen vessel by whom and through whom He could take us to Himself. All the things that God bestowed on Christ in His resurrection, He now gives to all who believe. God resurrected Jesus for our sake so that we can live with the hope of this certainty without any doubt. So, it would be very discouraging to have no hope for the future. To be a Christian does not free us from life’s disappointments, discouragements, or disasters, but in Christ Jesus our hearts are continually refreshed by our living hope; in Jesus’ name: Amen.