2 Corinthians 4:8-12

8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

So many things afflicted the people at the that Paul was writing from. They were pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. In all these things though, in all these tacts of the devil, they were not destroyed, they were not abandoned, not in despair, and not crushed. All of these things must have been terribly miserable to deal with, and yet they persevered. They continued on sharing their message.

Time for practical application, think about this country. In many ways the people of this country are in trouble. There is financial hardship, there is scary talk in politics on moral issues, there is insecurity, fear, and struggle grip the nation. We sit and complain and wallow, the news media eating up every bit of it, preaching doom and gloom. Consumer fear grinds the spending to a halt. Drastic changes are proposed throughout the government at every level. Its being called the worse economic catastrophy since the Great Depression.

And yet, is it all really that bad? I never lived through the Great Depression, but I have met many people that have. I hear stories told about how bad things really were, and yet people banded together to help each other and they got through it, never expecting a government handout or anyone else to come to their rescue.

Here are exerpts from a letter my grandpa sent to my cousin about his experience with the Great Depression. None of this is intended to be political, but just to make you think:

"Dear Kyle,
I enjoyed visiting with you yesterday. I hope I was able to give you some information that will help you in your class. I thought more about it and thought I would give you a few more facts on how things were in the 1930's. You can compare those facts with where we are today and decide if we are better off.

For instance here are a few of the things we didn't have in the 1930's:

There was no unemployment benefits.
There was no social security
There was no medical insurance
There was no medicare
There was no medicaid
There was no food stamps
There was no aid to dependent children
There was no aid for housing credits
There were no loans for higher education
And on and on and on.
There was basically no help from any government agency. If a family needed help the neighbors or church members pitched in and helped out. My Dad worked for a dollar a day and was glad to have a job. Us kids entertained ourselves. We played ball on the streets or in back alleys. Some one would nail a goal to a barn and we would play basketball in all kinds of weather. None of us had any money but as kids we didn't know any better. We just had a good time with whatever toys we could make or borrow. If you had a bicycle you were really fortunate. My Dad finally bought me a used bike and I was the happiest kid in town. Most of my clothes were hand me downs from a friend of mine whose Dad was the principal of the school. Since he had a steady income he was able to buy new clothes for his son and I got to wear the ones he outgrew.

Love
Grandpa"

I understand that many in this country are really struggling right now, but do we have it anywhere close to that bad? And back then, did they have it as bad as the early Christians that were executed in brutal masses (being tied to horses running opposite directions, mauled by lions and wild animals, coated with tar and left to bake in the 100 degree heat and lit on fire in the evening to light the streets which brings new meaning to Christ saying we are the light of the world, amazingly though, the church grew because of the blood shed by the martyrs during this time). And the truly amazing thing is that these people in such terribly awful conditions rejoiced! They praised God! They were not destroyed or abandoned by God despite whatever else the world had in store for them! And they knew that they had eternal life waiting for them after this life. "So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." Praise God for this. Let us be joyful and pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and let us know that we have life! Life through Christ no matter what our circumstance or condition.