2 Corinthians 4:17
\nFor our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
\nAs Christians we suffer so much for standing up for what is right. No easy feat as Paul attests but calls it light in that it’s temporary for a short time.
\nIn “Foxes book of martyr’s” When Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, was arrested, he declared: “God’s will be done!” He provided food for his captors before they escorted him before the Roman consul. The consul was struck by how old Polycarp was: “Pity your grey hairs, old man, just burn some incense before the Emperor and you can go free.”<\/p>\n
Polycarp responded: “If you think for a moment that I would do that, then you pretend not to know who I am. Hear it plainly, I am a Christian!”<\/p>\n
“Then do this, old man, just curse Christ and I will set you free.”
\nPolycarp responded: “86 years I have served my Christ and He has never done me any wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me.”<\/p>\n
“I have wild beasts,” threatened the pro-consul.<\/p>\n
“Bring them,” Polycarp said. “I would change my mind if it meant from going from the worse to the better, but not from the right to the wrong.”<\/p>\n
“If you despise the wild beasts, I will have you burned, warned the consul.”<\/p>\n
“You threaten me with a fire that burns for but an hour and then is extinguished. But you know nothing of the fire of Eternal Judgment, which will never be extinguished. Bring what you will.”<\/p>\n
As Polycarp was led into the arena, he was heard to pray: “Lord God, Father of our blessed Saviour, I thank Thee that I have been deemed worthy to receive the crown of martyrdom and that I may die for Thee and Thy cause.” (W Polycarp- wikipedia).<\/p>\n
Like the martyrs we should never be shaken by any test and succumb to the enemy what awaits has far greater weight than the momentary affliction<\/p>\n
Additional readings:
\nRom 8:18
\nMatt 5:12
\n1 Pet 5:10<\/p>\n
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2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; As Christians we suffer so much for standing up for what is right. No easy feat as Paul attests but calls it light in that it’s temporary for a short…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}