2 Corinthians 4:7 We have this treasure in clay jars.

We are ordinary, frail and sinful “clay jars.” AND, we are of infinite valuable and of great worth.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He create them male and female. (Genesis 1:26-27) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5:8) It was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. (Psalm 139:13-16)

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 7 We have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power (to persevere) may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; We are perplexed but not in despair; 9 We are persecuted but not abandoned; We are struck down but not destroyed.

Let me tell you about something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows; it's a very mean and nasty place. And I don't care how tough you are; it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 7 We have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power (to persevere) may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; We are perplexed but not in despair; 9 We are persecuted but not abandoned; We are struck down but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4: We have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power (to persevere) may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; We are perplexed but not in despair; 9 We are persecuted but not abandoned; We are struck down but not destroyed A lot of bad things continue to happen (“death”) but good things also happen (“life”)! Our faith helped carry us through.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Admiral James Stockdale Prisoner-of-war, “Hanoi Hilton,” Vietnam

The Stockdale Paradox We must stoically accept the brutal facts of our current reality AND maintain an unwavering faith that we will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. The prisoners-of-war who didn’t make it out alive were either negatively fatalistic they only saw the brutal reality they didn’t have faith that freedom would come OR naively optimistic they only dreamed of freedom they ignored the brutal reality