A lovely lady called Helen emailed me recently suggesting we create a print featuring 2 Corinthians 4:17. As soon as I read her message, I knew this verse needed to be painted. Helen, I hope you love what we've created!
There are seasons when it feels like the struggles just won't let up. One difficulty after another, or sometimes one long, grinding hardship that stretches on for months or years. In those times, Paul's words to the Corinthians can feel either deeply comforting or impossibly challenging: "Do not lose heart."
I think about what Paul was facing when he wrote this. Beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, constant danger, rejection from people he loved. These weren't minor inconveniences. Yet he could still write: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
Light and momentary? Sometimes my troubles feel anything but. Heavy and endless would be more accurate.
But Paul isn't minimising the reality of suffering. He's offering perspective. When I place my current struggles against the backdrop of eternity - the eternal glory God is working out through them - the proportions shift. Not because the pain becomes less real, but because I'm measuring it against something infinitely greater.
That phrase "achieving for us" catches my attention. The troubles aren't just something to endure. They're actively accomplishing something. God is using them to work out eternal glory - something that far outweighs whatever I'm carrying today.
I painted the Sandbanks beach scene in this print on a particularly sunny day. I recalled standing at the water's edge, looking out at that vast horizon, I felt that shift in perspective this verse describes. The immediate concerns didn't disappear, but they became smaller against something bigger. The troubles are real, but they're not the whole picture.
If you're in a season of prolonged difficulty, may this verse anchor you. You're allowed to acknowledge it's hard. You don't have to pretend it's light or momentary in the feeling of it. But hold onto this truth: God is achieving something eternal through it. Something glorious. Something that will far outweigh every heavy moment you're carrying now.
Do not lose heart.