Forgot one!

This post is a continuation of this one. After I left the computer and was spending some time reading it came to me that this afternoon Matt received a phone call for a new project for our design business! Yes, it's a very small one. Very small. But when you are self-employed, one thing we have found (and loved about being self-employed) is that the mirage of security that is offered by a full-time position paid by an employer is gone. You are suddenly very aware of how dependent you are on God to bring in the right amount of work at the right time to keep your bills paid. I'm guessing that in this rich string of events this week that it is no mistake that it was this week that he got that call.

Matt and I have been growing by leaps and bounds in our understanding of what it means to live by faith. God has made many, many promises to us in his word, and living by faith is not just a matter of "I believed that Jesus died for my sins" but from that as a base upon which everything else builds, it also means believing everything else that he has said through his word, and putting your trust in that. Tonight I was in 1 John. The 25th verse of the second chapter says simply, This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

Now at first glance, that doesn't really seem like something that has any impact on the right here and now that we live in. But on the other hand, it does. Immensely. This is the framework through which I work every day to view the things that go on in our life. We've been in 2 Corinthians in Sunday School this year, and there are so many passages that I can identify with - parts that contrast the frailty and temporal nature of our lives with the enduring steadfastness of God. So I looked back at the end of chapter 4:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying [my physical ability to move/lift Krassi is not going to get better any time soon! Matt and I are both beyond tired all the time because of Reuben's sleep habits. Matt's sideburns are showing a few white hairs - we're getting older!] yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. [Every day! Day by day. Psalm 23 - "He restores my soul...for his name's sake..."] For momentary, light affliction [that's worth repeating. Momentary. Light. Momentary, light affliction. That's written by Paul referring to things that from the perspective of this world were anything but "momentary" and "light."] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, [dirty diapers, unfinished interiors, toys and dirty dishes and unfolded laundry everywhere, upcoming bills bigger than our available funds, more work than Matt and an 8 year old can do alone] but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 We are not to look at these difficulties, challenges, ahead of us as though they are all there is. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. We have something eternal to look forward to, and the glory of that makes everything that happens here seem inconsequential, and something to be lived through in the light of what he has promised to those who believe.