Tough times produce tough people

There is an old quote, “Hard times create hard people. Hard people produce easy times. Easy times produce soft people. Soft people create hard times.” We definitely live in a soft society. The two overriding values in our culture are personal peace and affluence. People want to be left alone and they want a rising standard of living. These are not God’s highest values!

The apostle Paul was not soft. God’s grace and hard times produced a toughness in the great apostle. He was beaten and stoned and shipwrecked multiple times. He was naked and destitute and rejected. Despite all of this Paul described himself as a conqueror and an athlete and a champion in the New Testament.

In the Book of 2 Corinthians Paul found himself once again under attack. His powerful enemies inside and outside the church joined forces against him. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians as his spiritual autobiography. In 2 Corinthians 4 God reveals three crucial ingredients that produce toughness.

The first ingredient is to leave the results in God’s hands (verses 1-6). Paul said, “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” Paul was not discouraged. He was overwhelmed by the privilege of serving. He did not quit.

The task is impossible in our own strength. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (verses 3-4). Satan blinds people to the truth. Our enemies are not people- it is Satan and his demons. The gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins. Martin Luther echoed this same theme when he wrote, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.”

Paul said, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (verse 5). Our task is to be faithful. We must proclaim the truth. We are not called to be successful but to stand for what is right. A strong person is not focused on popularity. He or she focuses on truth and faithfulness.

The second ingredient is to die to self (verses 7-15). Paul in verse 7 described himself as “a clay pot.” We are jars of clay. God uses weak people. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (verses 8-10).

A strong person sacrifices for others. A mother goes into the deepest valley to give birth to her children. She then spends the best years of her life raising those children. A strong father provides and protects and points his children to the Lord Jesus.

The third ingredient is to live for eternity (verses 16-18). Verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Strength is produced by focusing on the long term. As Christians we focus upon the future. Paul said, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (verse 17).

Winston Churchill rallied the British people by focusing upon the future. Churchill became prime minister in a very difficult time. The Nazi swastika flew above Paris. The battle for France ended. The battle for Britain began. June 18, 1940 was a very significant date. It was the 125th anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat by the Duke of Wellington. Churchill stood in the British Parliament on that day and said, “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

Didn’t Jesus focus on the future when He died for our sins? He endured the pain and the difficulty by looking ahead. Jesus knew the Father would accept His sacrifice. Jesus knew the Father would resurrect Him. Jesus looked beyond the cross to the glory to follow.

The Bible describes the closing days of this age as birth pangs that lead to a new age- the Second Coming of Jesus and the messianic kingdom. God will use the hard times to refine His church and to produce strong people. Let’s begin today by leaving the results in God’s hands. We are called to not be popular but to stand firm. Let’s begin by dying to self. We find our lives by losing them. Let’s sacrifice in doing right. Let’s begin by focusing on the future. This life is short. Eternity is long. Let’s live for God’s glory.

Ethan Hansen is a pastor at Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.