Passing Through

Growing up there were some difficult times, times when we had no electricity or indoor plumbing, times when we had to accept government commodities and times our whole world was uprooted.  Regardless of the circumstance or the challenge before us, my mother would always assure us, "This too will pass."

Having lived through the Great Depression and so many other personal losses, she knew by experience that God was faithful and we would most certainly come out on the other side of whatever the world through at us. My mother was right. God is faithful and the trials of life are only part of the journey we face traveling through like a stretch of bad road or a patch of rough seas.

For one who is in Christ, having the knowledge of salvation and ultimate victory over sin and sorrow, the struggles of life are given new perspective. As the apostle Paul reveals to us, in light of the Gospel, they don't last long and they don't weigh much. His precise words are: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor 4:17).

You may be going through a lot right now but the operative word is "going."  You are not stuck in anything. Life on earth itself is moving at break-neck speed, how long can a particular circumstance or event last. If it were to last a lifetime, how long is that compared to eternity. If it costs you all you have, how much is that compared to Glory?

In Christ, we are on a journey, passing through this world, heading home. As the writer of Hebrews reveals, we are "foreigners and strangers on earth" (11:13).  You may be on a stretch of bad road, you may be sailing over some rough seas but you are passing through, not living in life on planet Earth.

Jesus' brother, James, put it this way: "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (4:14).  It may seem like forever at times but life itself being only a vanishing mist doesn't allow for anything we experience to weigh much or last long in comparison to eternity. Jus' Sayn.