Tom Carson, father of well-known New Testament scholar D.A. Carson, was a lesser-known pastor who evidently experienced discouragement from time to time. His journal entries from Sunday, March 5, 1961, read like this:
Rose 6:50 a.m. Prayer and study. Preached (poorly) from 2 Corinthians 2. Twenty-four present. Rested. Studied. Evening: 19 present. Preached from Romans 1:1-17 (poorly).
Tom Carson wasn’t writing for anyone else. He had no idea his journal would one day be published. And he was obviously discouraged. His son Don later wrote, “The reasons for such discouragement are many, but some of them, at least, overlap with Tom’s self-doubt, guilty conscience, sense of failure, long hours, and growing frustration with apparent fruitlessness.”
Perhaps you do not share the same reasons for discouragement, but I suspect you identify with the feelings Tom expressed. While the great hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” admonishes, “We should never be discouraged,” the truth is we often are. I don’t think any of us need a dictionary to describe discouragement. We know how it looks and feels. Even though Paul did not use the word discouragement in this text, he wrote poignantly about “losing heart.”
Discouragement is like temptation; it isn’t a matter of if but when. We all face discouragement. When you are discouraged, how do you deal with it? What enables you to overcome it? Our text doesn’t share everything the Bible says regarding this subject, but it provides three things to remember when we find ourselves discouraged.
Focus on internal growth, not external decay (verse 16). Here, Paul contrasted what is happening to our bodies (the outer man) with what is happening on the inside (our inner man). He described our bodies as “wasting away” or “perishing.” The word is in the present tense, indicating an ongoing, ever-present process.
When I was younger, I remember hearing “older folks” describe the body becoming frail and weak and broken down. But this physical decay is hard to understand until we see firsthand evidence our own bodies are wasting away as they reach “higher mileage.”
At the same time, Paul identified another change happening, this one for the better. For the Christian, the inner man or inner person is constantly being renewed, also present tense. Day by day, the power of the Holy Spirit within is transforming us. In chapter 3, Paul described this process as beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and being transformed into what we see, from one degree of glory to another.
I may not be young and healthy outside, but inside I can be. I may be running down physically, but inside I am being conditioned for eternity. Where is your focus? Of course, you should do your best to stay healthy, to improve your physical condition and appearance. However, you will never be able to stop this wasting away. Your focus, then, should be the the type of person you are becoming inside.
Paul said we are being renewed day by day (not one day a week at church). So, make it your priority to spend time alone with God each day, meditate on His Word, talk to Him, sing to Him. Little by little, you will continue being renewed.
Focus on future glory, not the present pain (verse 17). In the previous verses, Paul contrasted death and life, defeat and victory in the Christian life. He used words like affliction, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down. In other words, Paul knew what it was like to experience hard times, and he wanted his readers to be prepared for hard times as well.
The pain and problems are real, but notice how Paul classified them: light and momentary afflictions. You may be experiencing great hardship no one would classify as light. What you face is heavy and crushing, and the load seems unbearable. And if you have been struggling for years, the pain seems anything but momentary. Why would Paul use these words? Paul viewed his suffering considering the future. Our present pain is preparing us for Heaven, the “eternal weight” of glory.
This week we attended the funeral of my wife’s 104-year-old grandmother. Both preachers highlighted how much she had seen in her lifespan. Born in 1920, she experienced the Great Depression, World War II, societal change in the 50s and 60s, the Korean and Cold War, Vietnam, and on and on and on. Living 104 years, she faced many trials along the way. But when she entered glory, the challenges of her long life were counterbalanced by the full weight of God’s love, glory, and beauty. Her first moment of Heaven wiped away the challenges and pain of her long life.
This is the reality for the believer. Like Paul, through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we can live through discouragement and difficulty with an eternal focus and perspective.
Focus on the eternal, not the temporary (verse 18). In some ways, Paul was urging us to do this throughout these verses. We look to the “unseen.” Obviously, this is easier said than done, because we trust our senses and things we can touch, see, smell, and hear. Of course, God made our senses, and what we experience is real. But the Bible calls us to see another world only visible through eyes of faith. The things in this present world are transient, but the world to come is eternal.
I’m not generally a fan of clichés or “cute” Christian slogans. But one applies well here: feed your faith, and your doubts will starve. If you are solely focused on this world, then your faith will not grow. But if you focus by faith on God’s Word, your focus will be eternal. Through faith we see realities our physical eyes cannot see. This is why Paul wrote passages such as Ephesians 6:10-18, elaborating on spiritual warfare, the armor and weapons we need to fight an ever-
present battle.
We often describe Hebrews 11 as the faith chapter of the Bible or “Faith’s Hall of Fame.” There we find faith defined as the assurance of things hoped for, the awareness or conviction of things unseen. And then, the rest of the chapter highlights various biblical figures from the Old Testament who lived by faith, with an awareness of the world they could not see. I especially like how this chapter describes how Moses survived the trials of Egypt: “by seeing him who is invisible” (verse 27).
I have never been very disciplined about keeping a journal. I don’t know if you keep one or not, but if you did (and you were honest), would today’s entry reflect discouragement? If so, focus on the internal, not the external; focus on your glorious future, not your present pain; and focus on what you cannot see rather than what you can.
I close with two simple reminders. First, if you are discouraged, you are not alone. Others are also discouraged, and you may find strength in helping them. Second, the Great Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is present with you, and He will strengthen and sustain you as He prepares you for eternity.
About the Columnist: Dr. Barry Raper pastors Bethel FWB Church near Ashland City, Tennessee, and teaches ministry at Welch College.
