"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart."
— 2 Corinthians 4:1 (NASB 1995)
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."
— 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NASB 1995)
eleeō — mercy received, not earned (Note: display the Greek word with the definition underneath)
People who don't lose heart aren't people with more willpower. They're people who are better at going back.
When is the last time you went back to the moment you were found?
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." — 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB 1995)
ostrakinos — clay pot; common, ordinary, fragile
The treasure doesn't need a fancy vessel. It just needs an honest one.
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." — 2 Corinthians 4:8–9 (NASB 1995)
What is your "but not" today?
"For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, 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." — 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (NASB 1995)
baros — weight, substance; used here to describe glory
He's not saying your pain isn't real. He's saying your pain isn't final.
anakainoo — being renewed; present tense, passive — it's happening to you, right now
You don't beat discouragement with willpower. You beat it with daily rhythm.
Every time we escape the hard thing before it can do its work in us, we come out the other side exactly the same person who went in.
The mercy that found you hasn't stopped working.
