Because of Jesus, the world’s greatest treasure comes hidden in jars of clay–common, unexceptional, even fragile and weak. That means, for the Christian, suffering is never what it seems.

True freedom, the freedom that comes by God’s Spirit, is not primarily freedom from something holding you back. It’s freedom for; freedom to see, to enjoy, and to be transformed by the glory of Jesus.

What is true Christianity? And how can you see if Christianity is true? Paul’s answer may surprise you. It should definitely encourage you.

How does the knowledge of God spread throughout the world? It’s not a question we would normally ask, but it’s crucial for understanding our calling. Paul shows us we’ve got to recognize the difference between God’s responsibility and ours.

Here are four things we can learn from Paul about how to correct one another in a healthy way.

One of the main reasons Paul wrote this letter was to defend his own sincerity against people who thought he was speaking from both sides of his mouth. And sincerity is certainly worth defending. You want to know that someone means what he says, that he’s not holding anything back, and that you can trust him to follow through. But sincerity is easier to require from someone else than to produce consistently in ourselves. Paul explains how the grace of God is the only sure path to the sincere lives we want.

Paul describes a community where, though everyone experiences suffering, everyone is comforted and everyone is responsible for comforting others. He helps us learn to see our suffering for what God is doing in us and what he will do through us.

Why do we need this ancient letter? Here are at least three reasons.

Judges has shown us what sort of king we need. John’s gospel shows us God has given us exactly what we need in Jesus.

The book of Judges is like a negative space portrait–the colorful characters catch our eye, but we’re really supposed to see what’s missing. Israel’s awful experience shows us that if we want peace what we need is a very specific kind of leader to take us there.