For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed -- always carrying about in our body the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. And
knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus,
and will present us with you.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet
the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are
temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have
a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For
in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is
from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For
we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be
unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given
us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that
while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by
faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord.
