Perhaps it goes without saying, but Paul was a genius. His rhetoric is incredibly strong. His demeanor is humble but confident. Reading through this passage, the one phrase with repetition that stands out is, "We do not lose heart." The reason we do not lose heart is because we have an eternal perspective.We have been given a responsibility by God himself, so we think on a different plane than the rest of the world.
We may face what some think is the ultimate punishment, but it's not. As Paul puts it, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."
I love the closing of this chapter. This may be one of my favorite paragraphs in the New Testament. We do not lose heart because the flesh will die, but our souls are practicing eternal life right now. The stuff we go through here is all just a preparation for the most unbelievable thing: eternal life in glory. We do not lose heart because we are focused on what is unseen. We do not lose heart because everything in this world is transient. We do not lose heart because we are citizens of God's Kingdom, preparing to go home, an eternal home. We are a bold people because we are God's people.
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