Momentary Affliction

Brothers and sisters: Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we too believe and therefore we speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

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View From the Gate

The torrents of suffering,
No matter how long,
How deep or how strong,
In the end are nothing

Compared to the weight
Of eternal glory—
The end of God’s story—
When we’ll see from the gate

How the Father loved us
In the peaks and valleys,
In highway and alleys,
Drawing us with purpose

To shalom in the whole
Creation restored
In divine concord,
Healing body and soul

With the angels and earth,
Animals and plants,
In the cosmic dance
Of eternal mirth.

Let us unite our sufferings to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose Father raised him and all humanity from the dead.

Traditional Chinese Translation

《一時的痛楚》
在苦難中與神聯合
產生永恆的祝福。