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This past Sunday I preached a sermon entitled “How NOT to Lose Your Heart” from 2 Corinthians 4. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/5RKmZkKsZzs?t=3988. I was going through the sermon at quite a fast pace to make sure we end the service on time and skipped a part that was important to me and I wanted to share it with you in this email. There is a passage (2 Corinthians 4:13)  where Paul shares a quote from the Old Testament Scriptures “I believed; therefore I have spoken” that I wanted to elaborate on. Our faith prompts us to speak, is the plain and immediate meaning of this quote and the Bible teaches that in other parts as well notably in James chapter two emphasizing the fact that our faith should be manifesting in our actions (and speech) if it is real or it is no faith at all. But there’s more to this passage, I believe.  

So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. – 2 Corinthians 4:12-14  

The context of the passage focuses on death and being raised from the dead, it connects with the hardships and suffering that Paul shared earlier in his letter to the Corinthians. When we go back to read the original passage he quotes from the Book of Psalms it makes the meaning a lot richer.  

For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. I believed; therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.” How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. – Psalm 116:8-14  

This passage focuses on our afflictions, disappointments, and hardships in life. We speak about these to our God (and to one another) because we believe in Him and His salvation. Vulnerability is not only a psychologically proven healthy practice but it stems from our faith in God, from the fact that we believe in a God who cares, who has poured out so much of his goodness on us, and we believe in a God who saves! Let us lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord even while we might be suffering, going through hardship, or emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual challenges. I most definitely wanted to share these thoughts with you all as I pray that we are emboldened by our faith to live out this life of “Treasure in Jars of Clay”, to share not only the gospel but our lives as well (including the rough parts).