Temporary Pain, Eternal Glory | Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional | Matthew 26:64

Today, it's easy to get trapped by the struggles in front of us—whether it's financial pressure, relationship challenges, or disappointment. It is easy to start believing that our current season is our permanent reality. But God is doing something deeper.

In this daily devotional, we explore how our hardship becomes a training ground, how pressure builds endurance, and why we must learn to look beyond today’s suffering to fix our eyes on the victory that is coming.

Reflection Question:

What current struggle are you allowing to define your perspective instead of trusting God’s greater plan?

Daily Challenge:

Identify one area of your life where you’ve become discouraged. Spend 10 minutes in prayer and journaling, asking God to help you see your situation through the lens of eternity rather than temporary circumstances.

Transcript

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He doesn't focus on the suffering. He points to the throne, the throne in heaven, right? Hey, welcome back to the Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional, where every day we challenge men to boldly pursue the calling that Jesus has placed in their lives. We're going to dive back into the book of Matthew, but before we do, go to restoringwarriors.com. We're building out this powerful online community of brothers from all over the world where we can gather in one place and give glory to the Lord. We'd love to have you over there. Go to restoringwarriors.com. All right, click join a group and we'll direct you to our school community. Can't wait to see you there. All right, so Matthew 26, this is verse 64. It says, You have said so, Jesus replied, but I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. Men, so Jesus is sitting in the middle of a sham trial. It's a sham, right? False accusations are flying all over the place. The religious leaders, they've already decided the outcome amongst themselves. Within hours, he's going to be beaten, mocked, abandoned, and crucified. But notice what Jesus focuses on. He doesn't focus on the pain, he doesn't focus on the injustice, he doesn't focus on the suffering. He points to the throne, the throne in heaven, right? While everyone around him is focused on the cross and the outcome, Jesus is focused, focused in on the crown. He knows that what's about to happen, it's not the end of the story, not by a long shot. Beyond the betrayal lies victory. And beyond all the suffering that he's about to face is glory. All right. As men, we often get trapped. We get trapped by what we're experiencing today in the moment. All right. We focus on the struggle that's in front of us, and rightfully so. There are hard circumstances. We look at the financial pressure, we look at the broken relationship, the addiction battles that we're all facing, right? The disappointment, the unanswered prayer. We begin to believe that our current season that we're walking through is going to be our permanent reality, but that's not the case. God rarely works that way. The cross, it looked like defeat until Sunday morning. It looked like defeat until Sunday morning. I'll say it again. Some of the greatest things that God does in a man's life are forged in seasons that he would never choose for himself. All right, the hardship, it starts to become the training ground and the pressure that we're feeling, it builds endurance. All right, the pain deepens our dependence on God, and the trial is what prepares us for the calling that He's placed in our lives. So, men, if you're walking through a difficult season right now, don't mistake the chapter you're in for the entire story. It's not the entire story. God is not finished. All right, keep your eyes on the promises of God, not just the problems happening around you. Broaden your vision. Be like Jesus. All right. Learn to look beyond today's sufferings and fix your eyes on the victory that's already on its way. All right, let's take a few minutes. Pull out a journal. We're gonna take, I'm gonna ask you a reflection question. Take five or ten minutes and see what comes up here. Invite the Holy Spirit into this process with you. See if there's conviction. See if there's maybe a seed that the Lord's asking you to water. Um, take five or ten minutes, though, and really dive into this journaling question. What current struggle are you allowing to define your perspective instead of trusting that God's got a greater plan? All right, and here's your daily challenge. Identify one area of your life where you've become discouraged. You'll probably identify that in your journaling question. All right, spend 10 minutes in prayer and journaling. Ask God to help you see your situation through the lens of eternity rather than the temporary circumstances we're seeing them through right now. All right, let's pray. Father, father, when the weight of life feels heavy, help me remember that you're working even when I can't see it. Lord, give me the strength to endure hardship with faith, the wisdom to trust your plan, and the courage to keep moving forward, Lord. Father, fix my eyes on your promises and help to remind me that today's struggle is not the end of my story. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Hey, thank you so much for tuning in today. If you were encouraged by this devotional, I encourage you to send it to a friend. Make sure you like, make sure you're subscribed to the channel. We send these every day, Monday through Friday, first thing in the morning. So you can always start your day off with some positive encouragement. Leave us a comment. We love reading your comments. We'll reply back to you. It's an absolute pleasure doing this daily devotional with you every day. Can't wait to see you on the next one.