Feeling Down? Look Up!

2 Corinthians 4:8-18; Hebrew2 11:24-27

Over the past few months there has been a big let down in our expectations concerning our country. It feels as though the breath has been taken out of us and no life remains in us. If we feel this way as a result of an election, I can’t imagine how Paul felt when he was more than let down. He was beat down, put down, brought down, and cast down. I would say he was down in the dumps!

But really he wasn’t. Paul had probably far more disappointments than we will ever have and yet he remains positive, uplifted, and hopeful. Why? Because he had focus! He did not look at the things that were seen but he looked at the things unseen. He did not put his trust in temporal things, but in the things that was eternal. In other words he focused on the things that was already said and done. Things already completed through Jesus Christ and the cross, resurrection, ascension, and his mediation in heaven at God’s right hand.

• Having been afflicted he did not allow those afflictions to crush his spirit.

• Having been confused he never he never lost focus.

• Having been persecuted he realized he was sharing in the sufferings of Christ

• Having been struck down he knew that death did not have the final word.

You see we die a little everyday. The outward man perishes. But inside we live a little more everyday. The inward man is renewed. This renewal comes from feasting on the word of God which fuels our faith, hope, love, and constantly reminds us of the promises that we have in our risen Lord.

There are many things that are letting us down right now, but these are temporary things. I believe what God is saying to us is to look up! To look unto Jesus. Do as Moses did when he refused to be called Pharaohs son and chose to suffer affliction with the people of God. He saw that the treasures in Egypt were temporal. The Bible tells us that Moses endured by seeing him who is invisible.

We may not see him, but he is the God who is there! It is he who is the lifter of our heads and will lift us up when we have been let down.

Pastor Robby