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Writer's pictureQuin. A

Veils, Light, and Investments


2 Corinthians 4 picks up where the Apostle Paul left off in 2 Corinthians 3. At the end of chapter three, he speaks about veils. He mentions how Moses's face shone with God’s glory after he descended Mount Sinai and how the Israelites were afraid of that glory. In the same way Moses’s veil concealed glory from the Israelites, God’s glory is hidden from those who are not in him through Christ. Yet, for followers of Jesus, the veil has been lifted. Paul states, not only do we see the glory of the Lord, but we also become glory as the Holy Spirit transforms us.


And although this glory should be visible to all, it isn’t. Paul continued his letter to the Corinthians by stating this in verses three and four: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”


The god of this age, Satan, has blinded those who do not believe the gospel. It is one thing to be blind and aware that you are blind, but to be blind and unaware of your malady is a tragedy. If you are aware of your blindness, you are more likely to welcome an option to see. But if you are blind and do not believe you are blind, you will not seek healing because of your delusion.


The enemy has convinced unbelievers that they can see and that they can see very well. Some unbelievers not only believe that they see, but they also believe that believers are those who are blind. What a crafty plan … making the blind believe they have sight while attempting to make those who have sight blind.


Yet, there is hope. When the lost come to the light, it is not because they came on their own accord. It is because God commanded light to shine into their darkness. Paul stated, “God shone in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, Paul was blind before he journeyed to Damascus. He did not become a gospel preacher because he realized he was blind. He became a preacher because “suddenly a light shone around him from heaven” (Acts 9:3).


That light was the light of Christ. Paul received sight because Jesus shined into his darkness. Just as the physically blind man in John 9 received sight only after an encounter with Christ, those who are spiritually blind only receive sight after encountering the Lord. In the beginning, when God created the earth, he commanded light to shine into darkness. And in the beginning of our coming to the Lord, God again commanded light to shine within our darkness. And upon coming to Jesus, we can shine light into the world just as he intends us to.


Paul once again references the concept of sight in the last two verses of this chapter. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 reads: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”


Once we are given sight by Christ, we must remember to see beyond what is seen in the physical. For Paul, the physical world brought him much pain. He said he was hard-pressed on every side yet not crushed. Paul endured heavy suffering but called his affliction “light.” He didn’t call his afflictions light because they were easy. They were, in fact, burdensome.


But Paul was able to call his afflictions light because of a comparison. If I place a 10-lb rock in your hands, you may think it is heavy. But in contrast to a 100-lb rock, you’d think the 10-lb rock is light. Paul says that this affliction was light compared to the glory that would be revealed when he received his eternal reward. Likewise, we are to believe that any affliction we face on earth is light compared to what will be revealed to us in glory. Though it may feel heavy, our reward is heavier—far heavier than anything we’ll ever have to endure in our short time on earth.  


We are to see what cannot be seen. We are to believe in an invisible God and trust that he watches over us, is with us, and will one day raise us up after death. Admittedly, this can be hard. Telling anyone to believe in what you cannot see is a high demand. It is a great request that requires sacrifice and dying to many things that we may desire.


Trusting the unseen, honestly, may seem absurd. The call of followers is to forsake our entire life—our will, our way, our cravings—all for the hope of what we cannot see. Let’s say I ask you to invest $100,000 in a business venture. Yet, I have no tangible proof to show you that your investment will receive a return. All I tell you to do is have faith and believe that you will receive a reward because of the previous work I am reported to have done.


I’d like to believe that both your and my soul are worth more than $100,000. Whatever you may deem the price of your soul is the investment price to follow Christ. We are investing our souls into Christ with no tangible proof that we will have a reward as a return on our investment. However, God is asking us to have faith because of the previous work he is reported to have done by both the Bible and the testimony of others.


It's a large investment. It’s an investment we are called to trust with faith being our evidence. For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is an investment we will not see as worth the cost if we remain behind the veil. Yet, when God removes the veil… when we see the light and the glory that is Christ Jesus our Lord… then we not only believe, but we know that the investment is worth the price. We don’t have to see it to believe it. We know it by faith.


May the veil be removed from the blind, may we continue to behold the glory of our Lord and be transformed by it, and may we continuously believe that faith in God through Christ is worth the investment. I pray this message has encouraged you. Be blessed in Jesus's name.


 

Thank you for reading this week's Write On! Wednesday word. Browse the website for more articles or visit www.amazon.com/author/quinarrington if you are interested in Christian fiction or nonfiction books. Also, check out the Now, That's A Word! YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@NowThatsAWord

God bless!

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