In VICTORY VERSES, we will explore key Bible verses that have guided my life recovery journey since 2005. After sharing how these verses impacted me, we will dive into their meaning and how they bring lasting victory. This column publishes on the 3rd Friday of each month in 2025.
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 (NIV)
In early 2006 I purchased an Amplified Bible from Joyce Meyer’s ministry. I hadn’t read that version much before that. So, when I began reading it, I was pulled in, especially to the Apostle Paul’s writings in the New Testament.
Soon after that I had to take my elderly mother to a doctor appointment to get her Rx refills. She had been diagnosed with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Sadly, at this point in our relationship she was more like my daughter than my mother.
That day, I took my new Amplified Bible with me to read while waiting. I remember so well, how Mother was sitting on the exam table with her feet dangling like a little girl. The doctor was writing out mother’s Rx and completing his notes. Suddenly, I sparked up with excitement as I discovered today’s verse. I said, “Momma, listen to this!” Then I read it aloud. She and the doctor both listened intently. Afterward, I remarked, “Isn’t that an amazing scripture?” Mother said, “Yes, that is.” And the doctor nodded his head thoughtfully like it touched him as well.
After that day, I wrote the verse on a 3×5 file card and quickly began to daily meditate, internalize and apply all the truth within those words to my life. It became my first “Life Verse” and has been the passage of scripture that has gotten me through some of the hardest days of my life over the last 20 years.
Fresh takeaways as I reflect on 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 today:
-
- We must see the temporal trials of our life in the light of the victory we have in eternity with Christ.
- We must remember that the afflictions produce God’s glory in our life that is far greater than anything the affliction could ever be!
In 2019, I spent an entire year in a series of posts diving into a deep study of 2Corinthians4:15-18 . I encourage you to take some time to read through that series. Meditate on the passage, internalize and apply its truth to your own life. God can use it to bring your victory over your afflictions!