Incentives For Continuing On With Ministry

The ministry of the gospel, while being one of surpassing glory and eternal significance, is nonetheless characterized by difficulty and oftentimes suffering. As it was with Christ, so too with His representatives on the earth today who give forth the message that has both the bad news in confronting sin and the good news of eternal life. This ministry of light and life to a lost and dying world has been entrusted to weak and frail vessels.
What keeps the messenger going in the face of opposition and struggles today are the same incentives that drove the apostle Paul onward. Two of these are elaborated on in this section of his epistle. First, a firm belief in what God has said, and two, keeping eternal matters in view while facing immediate temporal circumstances.