2 Corinthians 4:16-18
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; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Our flesh is dying.  Our mortal bodies begin to die from the day we are born.  These earthly bodies are not meant to last forever.  But in the midst of those decaying shells, the inward man, the spiritual life, is renewed day by day.  It doesn’t decay and decline, but we are refreshed and renewed with new life for that part of us that will live eternally.  And that part of us can remind us that there is something else to look forward to beyond this world.

We have to have an eternal perspective on things.  The fleshly and earthly things are temporary.  The toils of this life are not great and unbearable burdens, but light affliction.  So much that burdens us so greatly is temporal.  It is but a moment when there is eternity to look forward to.  Our true life is not of this world, but the one to come, so we need to keep our eyes upon the eternal things which cannot be seen but will be realized someday soon.  That far outweighs those things we endure here for such a short time.

But our focus should be not only on eternal things, but on the great and mighty Eternal One.  Our eternal God is the one who gives us eternal life in the first place.  He provides the source of hope for an eternity with Him.  He who always existed can never not exist, and so when He is our prize, we have Him forever.  When our life is built on Him, we have that life forever.  When we trust in Him, we get to go and be with Him where He is.  And the greatness won’t be simply living eternally, but living in God’s presence eternally.

It can be easy to get discouraged at times.  Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the things that come from living in a body of flesh in a sinful world.  And those are real and valid burdens that we bear.  There are difficult things that we endure during our time here.  But let us take comfort in the fact that those things will not last forever, and they will not follow us to our eternal home.  Let’s understand that those things that don’t kill us make us stronger as we are sanctified by God during our lives here.  And let us shift our perspective toward that time and that place that will be so wonderful and amazing and beyond belief that it will totally dwarf any struggles we deal with here.