We are a mix of all kinds of things on our inside. We know our bodies are mostly water. Anywhere from 50 to 60 percent on average. We’re made up of fat, muscle and bone. There are millions of microorganisms crawling around in and on us, generally good ones. On an emotional level we have happiness and sadness, instincts good and bad.
We also “carry around in our body the death of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:10). That’s the way the Apostle Paul sees it under inspiration of . . . . the Spirit as he reflects on how fragile we are as we minister with the gospel. In our body is the death of Jesus.
No one likes to think about “death” being inside them (although in a way that’s true physically for us all!). This is a special death. The death of Jesus. All that means is that we will also go through some level of persecution and suffering while we share the light of Christ in this world. Philippians 3:10 says something similar: I want to know Christ—yes, … and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
This is always the case. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, is how it’s put in our Bible verse from 2 Corinthians. Living the light of the gospel will most definitely involve hardship of some kind. Let’s not be too surprised by that!
However, there are a couple wonderful blessings that come out of this. First, if we, the messengers, are less glorious, that just points people more to the glory of the gospel message. And that’s where we want them to look anyway. Second, if we participate in his death, we will also participate in his life. The full Bible verse from above is as follows: We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. Carrying around Jesus’ death all the time isn’t so bad when life with Jesus is ours through faith, and his full life for us in heaven is right around the corner.