Momentary Pain vs Eternal Glory

2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV) says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

As we enter July and the heat cranks up, I remember the summer workouts in high school, conditioning my body for football in the scorching heat. We would run wind sprints until we puked and lift weights until we could hardly walk the next day. But we were able to push through because we knew that there was something greater—the moments of glory awaiting us when we got onto the field.

I remember when I was a freshman in high school, for the first time in my playing career, I was on offense, and I hated it. I was a fullback, which meant I blocked in 99% of the plays and got the ball only when we were close and I had to get destroyed on those plays by huge defensive linemen. Yet one game, my coach put me at defensive end near the end of the game. I was ready to go, lined up on the ball, and the moment the ball was in play, I saw my chance. I immediately broke my block and went straight for the quarterback. It was like all the highlights I would watch on ESPN. I slammed into the QB from behind, and he crumbled to the ground. In that moment, it felt like we had just won a state championship. The coach took me out for the next play, and we ended up losing that game.

All that training, preparation, and pain felt worth it in that moment of glory. Yet unlike in sports, where the preparation is 99% of the work and the glory lasts but just a second, in this life, the suffering is considered momentary, and the reward is eternal.