Tom writes:

This passage is famous for a reason. We love the image of ourselves as an earthenware pot holding lashings of gold. It lodges in the mind and makes perfect sense. God has - in spite of our mediocre means - placed the most fabulous riches inside of us. We have light. We see glory. We are alive. Life is at work in us. We are being renewed day by day. An eternal glory is being achieved for us. The extent of God’s ongoing work in every single believer stretches far beyond anything we would imagine. We hold immense bounty. And that bounty now defines us. Far too often we find ourselves looking only at transient aspects of our identity. Our eye and mind is drawn to the chips and blemishes in our pot. Far too often we believe the disdainful glances or the lack of attention that our earthenware vessel receives from others. But when we see how much God is actively doing in us then “we do not lose heart”. “We do not lose heart” is a phrase that has flowed like a river from the strange spring of Paul’s suffering. The bone-grinding agony of Chapter 1 brought into stark relief for Paul the reality of his existence. Some things in his life were seen. Some things in his life were unseen. And yet the unseen things were the ones that really counted.

It is the same with us. The treasure inside of us, God’s constant activity in us, how God sees us and smells us are all unseen things. And yet these things define us more than our look, our popularity or even the “success” of our efforts. And so Paul has adopted a deliberate renouncing of things that elevate the seen above the unseen. He deliberately renounced deceptive or distorting ways that prioritised visible success over invisible honour. How could we do the same? I’ve never found this harder than now. In this age of “big data” so many metrics of my self-worth are based on visible responses to me either on social media or otherwise. I find myself so often losing heart when the data tells me I’m just a jar of clay. I find myself so often wanting to focus on my “visibles”, to pander to saying manipulative things so I look more like a sparkly jar. Or to go the whole other way and disengage with everything all together. We need to ask God for his mercy so we see the unseen, do not lose heart and are renewed by God day by day.

Question for reflection

What are your favourite “unseen things” that God is saying over you or doing for you?

2 Corinthians 4 - Wednesday 12th June