Do Not Lose Heart

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DO NOT LOSE HEART

2 Cor 4:1-6

4:1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

NIV

There is so much here, but we dare not just take one portion because we might lose the context of the whole. Yet, we may camp out here in the whole for a few days to explore various truths. The first we want to deal with is the idea of losing heart. Whatever God has called us to we should not or rather we will not lose heart. Life can bring many challenges and some of them are filled with opportunities to lose heart. This Greek word that is translated as "lose heart" means to be afraid, to become discouraged, to become weary or tired, to despair or to tire of. All that fits within the idea of losing heart. We might start to become discouraged if we do not see any results of our ministry. Sometimes we think our blog is not profitable and if people are traveling alone with us on this journey. We could start to become weary the older we get, getting tired of doing that which we have been doing for years and years. So many speak of retirement, even those with full-time paid positions within the church. But is retiring a form of losing heart, losing the love of serving God and men? How can we retire, or give in to some set age when we are to be put out to pasture, let to wander around doing little or nothing at all? But still, there are thoughts of whether we have any benefit to the kingdom of God. Are we being effective in our service to God? We simply cannot allow anything to cause us to lose heart. God has always directed our path, and He is the one who started this work in us and He is the one who will bring it to completion. Therefore, why would we think we would get tired of doing that which we have been doing. If God is doing the work within us, then He also gives us the strength and courage to keep on keeping on, until the day He brings us home. God has never retired, or tired of doing what He does. We do wonder, at times, if God has changed his call upon us, and desires for us to do something else. The point is still the same, He has not called us to retirement or tired and weary. Jesus said that if we are weary and heavy burdened, not just with life, but with our ministry, that we are to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, that He is gentle and humble in heart and we will find rest for our soul, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. When we partner up, pair up with Jesus, as the yoke implies then we are assured of never losing heart all the days of our lives, for again, He said that he would never leave us, never forsake us and thus we are yoked for life.