Paul is so powerful in this scripture because he reminds us that through Jesus Christ we have eternal life and we don’t have to worry about what we might be going through. When we are maturing and growing in the Lord our hearts transform and we see that we can use all situations in our life to glorify God. The good ones and the bad are used by God through us as we shine like Christ and people see real love from us, not just words that we say.
I love what Paul says in chapter 4 verse 6, “For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit is in us and when we let Him out we glorify God in all situations that is what Paul shows us in his letter to the church in Corinth. We have the ability to shine and when we shine in our troubles or our sickness people don’t see us they see Jesus in us.
Paul goes on in verse 10 to say, “Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” Paul had to worry about constant death threats and way more negative reactions from the people than we do but we have unbelievers all around watching how we react to situations so when we let the Spirit lead us they see a difference that is intriguing to them and it might open the door to share our faith. When we let our heart go and give control to the Spirit of God, He will lead us to all truths and we will be able to get through all situations with strength from above and we will realize that everything we do for the Lord is not just for our benefit but for the benefit of others so Christ will be seen and known. Amen