Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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My administrative assistant decided to bring her two young nephews into the office one lunch hour. She wanted them to meet the people she works with and vice versa. Daniel was probably about five, and I'm sure he left wondering who that weird guy is that his aunt works with. When I met Daniel he flashed a big smile that revealed some missing teeth. I asked him what happened and he said, "I lost those teeth." Now, I don't know what possesses me at times like that, but I told Daniel I was sorry he lost them and I wanted to help him find them, after which, I got down on the floor and proceeded to crawl around looking for them. Mercifully, he told me I didn't have to keep looking; Daniel said he didn't mind losing those teeth. He said, "I got permanent ones coming!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Temporary Difference."
Now, the first time a child loses a tooth could be pretty upsetting - there's this big hole that makes you look sorta funny. But every child quickly learns that this is no big problem; you lose the temporary, but you're about to trade it for a permanent!
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 4:14-16. The perspective of a man who has been severely hammered - and he has the physical and emotional scars to prove it. He opens by saying, "We do not lose heart." Now, how can you be unsinkable like this when there is so much hardship and pain? He says, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." You may be in a pretty low time right now and you're sinking physically, or financially, or emotionally. Wouldn't it be nice to know what Paul's secret of daily renewal is? It's the Daniel with the missing teeth perspective. He says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all! So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Paul says, when you're feeling the weight of heavy troubles, get out your scale, put your troubles on one side and your eternal rewards on the other, and the scale will go "clunk" as your eternity with your Savior far outweighs any pain now.
In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:18, "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Maybe that's why he says later in the chapter, "We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." When our kids were going through their junior high-itis, my wife and I would just turn to each other and just say, "TTSP" - we knew that meant This Too Shall Pass.
It's that perspective on earth's hard times that makes them bearable and even victorious, if you focus on what's going to last forever rather than on what's going to last just a little while. That is what is so wonderful about the promise of God's heaven with no pain, no tears, no sin. It's wonderful to hear about the prospect of God's unimaginable rewards for those who have been faithful to Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9, "No one has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God had prepared for those who love Him." Focus on that!
When you focus on the temporary loss, you are vulnerable to do something, anything, to relieve the pain. And you often make a permanent mistake to get through some temporary pain. But you don't have to do that when your eyes are on the prize instead of on the pain of the race.
Even if a little boy with a lost tooth can understand that losing something is okay if it's only temporary and if you will soon trade it in for something you will never lose! You can make it through this. This is only temporary, and it is nothing compared to what you're going to have forever!