“Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.”
2 Corinthians 6:10 (NLT)
Paul paints a striking picture of paradox in this verse. He begins the chapter by warning us not to accept the marvelous gift of salvation and then ignore it. Then he recounts the hardships he endured in ministry—beatings, prison, mobs, exhaustion, sleepless nights, and hunger. In the natural, his life looked like constant suffering. But through the Holy Spirit, these trials revealed purity, understanding, patience, kindness, and sincere love.
There are two sides to every story. Our hearts can ache, but we can rejoice when we look upward. We may lack material possessions, yet we can enrich others with the spiritual wealth of the gospel. The most challenging paradox for our culture is the last one—owning nothing yet having everything. True wealth is not found in possessions but in Christ Himself. Stuff isn’t wrong, but stuff isn’t the goal. Jesus is.
This is the life we’re called to embrace: not ignoring the gift of salvation, but living it out in full. Our joy is not tied to circumstances, our riches are not measured in things, and our fullness is not found in this world. The paradox Paul describes is our invitation—to look beyond the natural and see what God is doing, to rejoice when it doesn’t make sense, and to share the riches of Christ no matter what we face.