2 Corinthians 4:11

2 Corinthians 4:11 says, For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.  This seems to be about as far removed from the concept that God wants us happy and successful as we can get.  Paul said that we are delivered unto death for Christ's sake.  When we begin to view following Christ as a means of material blessings, we are not following what the gospel demands.  We are to live for the glory of Christ.  Verse twelve adds, So then death worketh in us, but life in you.  I believe that Paul was saying that if those with him and he himself died for their faith it would be so that others might come to know life through Christ.  We must be willing to die to self so that we may effectively proclaim the gospel. Verse thirteen continues, We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;  All followers of Christ have the same spirit of faith and are called to witness for Christ.  The sharing of the gospel is not reserved for a select few but is the responsibility of each believer.  We all have the same spirit of faith and the same Holy Spirit living in us and empowering us.  Verse fourteen states, Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.  Paul said that we could have faith in our resurrection by faith in Jesus Christ, because the same God that raised Jesus will raise up those who put their faith in Him.  Verse fifteen adds, For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.  Paul said that their suffering was for the sake of those they were witnessing to and for God's glory.  It is because of the abundant grace of God that we have reason for thanksgiving even if we are being persecuted.  Verse sixteen continues, For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  Paul declared that those who believe in Christ have everlasting security through faith. Even if the outward person, the body, perishes, the inward person, the soul, is renewed every day.  Verse seventeen states, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  Paul said their light affliction was temporary, and that it worked for their more exceeding and eternal, or everlasting, glory.  Whatever we suffer for the sake of the gospel is indeed light when we compare it to everlasting life in the presence of God.  Verse eighteen adds, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  Paul said we must live by the unseen things of God, which are everlasting.  We cannot see faith, nor even heaven itself, but we must live by faith in the unseen things of God.  We can see the material things of this world, but we are to lay up our treasures in the unseen things of faith.