“For which cause we faint not: but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17).

Two men from the church went to call on Leo in the hospital. “What are we going to say to him?” the first man asked the other. “I am really nervous about this call, I will admit. I really don’t want to go, but with the pastor asking us to visit Leo, I knew we had to,” the second man concluded. “What do you say to a man whose cancer has spread, and the doctors say there is no hope?” he quietly asked as they walked down the hospital corridor. Entering Leo’s room, the men were greeted by Leo’s family. Motioning for them to come up to his bed, the two men from the church moved closer to Leo. Quietly and with a halting voice, Leo whispered to the visitors, “Hi guys. It is wonderful to see you. Now don’t you go and worry about me. This is a little affliction and compared to eternity, it is just a moment.” The men looked at each other, and one of them confessed, “Leo, we were afraid to come because we didn’t know what to say. We should not have worried. You said it all.” How about you? How do these verses impact your life?

For today: I want to keep my troubles in perspective. The affliction is light and is only for a moment!