By: Melissa
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2 Corinthians 4:10 – What the Death and Life of Jesus Show Us About Conflicting Emotions

2 Corinthians 4:10 – “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

I’ve often struggled with the idea of having hope and despair floating in my heart at the same time. How can these conflicting emotions both be present?

Key Takeaways
  • We will always carry Jesus’ death in our bodies
  • Jesus’ death reminds us of His life
  • Death and life can coexist

Since infertility, I’ve often struggled with the idea of having hope and despair floating in my heart at the same time. To my logical self, it doesn’t make sense. How can both be present? It has to be either one or the other.

This message might not be popular. I’m being vulnerable in sharing what I’ve learned and hope it resonates with you. Reading this verse brought me some relief and clarity about the struggle of carrying together these seemingly polar opposite emotions.

Breaking It Down

The first thing I find interesting is the use of the word “always.” Most things in life don’t fall into this category, but this word is chosen for a specific reason in this verse. It’s there on purpose and means what it says.

This verse clearly lays out that we will constantly carry the death of Jesus in our bodies. His death on the cross represents many things – hopelessness, despair, grief, sadness. Thankfully the verse goes on to the explain that the reason we carry His death is because it reminds us of His life – grace, hope, love, fullness.

We needed Jesus’ death in order to have eternal life. For Christians, you can’t have one without the other. While Jesus’ death was brutal, heartless and extremely painful, it brought us life.

Do you see what this verse is telling us? Both coexist – death and life – and are necessary. Wow. Pause and repeat that for a second.

What This Means For You

This is true for you and your life. Just like Jesus’ death reminds us of life, our deaths can do the same thing and bring hope to ourselves and others. The dark, heartbreaking and hopeless things can remind us of life.

Our deaths – hopes, dreams, expectations, embryos, miscarriages, whatever that looks like – our story, our grief, our loss can share the life of Jesus to others, maybe ourselves. That is what we are called to do as believers of Christ. Friends, I’ve told God multiple times that’s all fine and dandy but pick someone else to go through these difficult experiences to share about you! But as believers, all of us are called to do this.

Right now, you might be in the middle of experiencing a loss and hearing these words make no sense. I’ve been there, too, and Jesus’ followers felt the same way about his death on the cross. What you are experiencing it real and normal. His story didn’t end there, though. Jesus rose from the day three days later and so will you. You will rise and experience life again, just like Jesus did, because death reminds us of life. This doesn’t mean these hardships are any easier or less painful to experience.

I share this not as a fix, band-aid or cure all, but to fill your minds with truth about what you’re experiencing. To normalize what you’ve been feeling and provide validation for the conflicting emotions swirling in my body.

Not sure if this resonates with you today. If it does, would you leave a comment below? I’m really hoping it did.

Please share with someone you know who could use some encouragement in the wait.

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