Good morning. Now and again, I find Eugene Peterson’s insight especially intriguing and enjoyable. His isn’t a translation that is concerned with being literal. It is a paraphrase of scripture that is part translation, part sermon, part commentary, and largely his personal idea of what was meant to be understood from the Word of God.
Please enjoy with me his rendering of 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, a passage where the apostle Paul is explaining what it means to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ into a world lost in darkness: Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
I think it is a worthy telling of the truth that God wants us to understand in this passage of scripture. I especially appreciate the way he put verse 6 It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
This is indeed God’s command for His people, those who have come to Him through the love of Jesus Christ. God tells us to “Light up the darkness!”. Well said!
We are like plain old jars of clay, but even as such we are entrusted with the most precious message ever conceived, the Good News of God’s salvation.
So, consider how you will today, “Light up the darkness!”
Vern