Category: 2 Corinthians Devotionals

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Examining ourselves

2 Corinthians

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)

These are hard words. But I think it’s helpful to remember the context.

Some of the Corinthians, while claiming to be Christians, were rejecting God’s authority in their lives by rejecting Paul and were refusing to repent for their sin. (Chapters 10-12)

You cannot do these things, and claim to be a Christian.

True Christians may struggle with sin. But they will not reject God’s authority in their lives.

And when they sin, they don’t make excuses for it. Rather, they mourn over it. They repent. In short, they have a soft heart toward God.

Is that you?

If not, then you have to really question whether you’re truly a Christian.

But if that is you, then no matter your struggle with sins, you have nothing to worry about. Because God will never give up on you. What he has started in you, he will complete. (Philippians 1:6)

And though you are weak, though you may fall, the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with you into eternity.

Let us rest each day in these things.   

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Humble God-reliance

2 Corinthians

I see in this passage a remarkable parallel to chapter 1, verses 8-10. In both passages, Paul faced a trial that was too much for him. A trial that overwhelmed him.

In both passages, the lesson was the same: humble God-reliance.

Too often we fool ourselves into thinking we are wise. That we are strong enough to handle whatever may come.

But God never created us to be self-reliant. He created us to be God-reliant.

That’s why he sometimes allows us to face the trials we do. To remind us we’re not as wise or strong as we think we are.

And to bring us back humbly to his feet, hands raised in dependent, childlike trust.

When we do, we find out his grace is sufficient for us. That his power is made perfect in our weakness.

And we can say with Paul,

Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

That I many know your approval

2 Corinthians

For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves.

But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding…

For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians 10:12, 18)

Lord it’s so easy to measure my performance by others’. To compare myself with others.

But that way of thinking is empty. Because ultimately, there’s only one thing that matters: what you think.

And you’re not comparing me to others. All you’re looking at is how faithful I’m being to you.

So Lord, let me be faithful to you. I want to hear your commendation. I want to hear you say, “Well done.”

In your name I pray, amen.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

No healing? No forgiveness?

2 Corinthians

All of us have regrets in life. And sometimes as we look at the consequences of our sins and failures, our guilt threatens to crush us.

Certainly our enemy Satan would love to see that.

But what does God want?

In a lot of ways, Paul mirrored the heart of our Father.

Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians confronting them with their sin. And that letter caused them much guilt and grieving. But what does Paul say about that?

I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. (2 Corinthians 7:9)

Sometimes when people wrong us, we want them to suffer. We are happy that they are being crushed by their grief. Sometimes, we even want them to be destroyed by their grief.

But Paul didn’t want that for the Corinthians. He didn’t want them to suffer any loss. Rather, he wanted them to repent.

That’s what our Father wants.

When we sin, the consequences can be painful. And the guilt can be crushing.

But God doesn’t want to crush us. He wants us to repent. And with that repentance comes not death, but healing.

Paul says,

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. (10)

Some of you may be feeling crushed by guilt right now. It may seem that there can be no healing, that there can be no forgiveness.

But let me tell you now: There is forgiveness for you. And there can be healing.

All you need to do is repent. Admit your wrong. Ask God for forgiveness. And he will forgive.

“Come, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.

“Though your sins are scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are crimson red,
they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

That our ministry might not be slandered

2 Corinthians

We are not giving anyone an occasion for offense, so that the ministry will not be blamed.

Instead, as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything… (2 Corinthians 6:3-4)

Those words really struck me this morning.

The gospel message will cause offense. Whenever we confront people with their sin and God’s holiness, whenever we proclaim Jesus as the only way to salvation, we risk offending them.

But while people may be offended by our words, they should see an integrity in us that they cannot question.

Just as importantly, they should see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, God’s love, kindness, patience, among other things.

Why did Paul’s words strike me? I wonder sometimes if I ever give people occasion for offense, an opportunity to disparage the gospel I proclaim.

The truth is, there are times I have. And I’ve had to repent.

But all of us, not just me, are called to be Christ’s ambassadors.

By his grace and his strength, may we all live up to that calling, giving people no room to disparage the gospel because of our words and actions.   

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

That I may please you

2 Corinthians

Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him…

For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died.

And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:9-10, 14-15)

Lord, it is my desire to be pleasing to you. That in everything, in all my thoughts, in all my actions, I would please you.

But so often I look at my life and see how I fall short. And I realize again that is why you had to die on the cross.

But now through what you did for me on the cross, I have become the righteousness of God.

When you see me, you don’t see my sins or failures. Rather, I am now clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness. And because of that, you accept me and say, “You are my child whom I love. I am well pleased with you.”  

Your love for me is amazing.

Let that love be the driving force in my life. Let it shape the way I see my life. Let it shape the way I see others.

Let me live each day not for myself, but for you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Seeing God’s glory

2 Corinthians

Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”

He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.” (Exodus 33:18-20)

There are a lot of ties between that passage and 2 Corinthians 3.

For sinful humans like us, the glory of God can be a scary thing. Because he is so holy and we are not, people could not see God’s glory and live.

And so for Moses, God provided a rock to hide behind. (Exodus 33:21-23)

In the tabernacle, there was a curtain that blocked the priests and everyone else from the Most Holy Place where God revealed his presence. (Leviticus 16:2)

Even when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, he burned incense creating a cloud that prevented him from seeing God’s glory directly. (Leviticus 16:12-13)

Just to see the remnants of God’s glory on Moses’ face was too much for the Israelites. And so Moses put a veil on his face, even as that glory gradually faded away. (Exodus 34:29-30)

But when Jesus died on the cross, the temple curtain was torn. And now, when we turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And in the face of Christ, we see God’s glory.

But in seeing God’s glory, we are not destroyed. Rather, we are transformed into his likeness.

Sinful though we are, God is gradually changing us. And when Jesus comes, in an instant, we will be like him. (1 John 3:2)

And unlike the glory that faded from Moses’ face, we go from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

So like Paul, let us be bold. (2 Corinthians 3:13)

Bold in drawing near to God. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

And bold in sharing the message that gives life with those around us. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

That we might place our trust (and hope) in God

2 Corinthians

When we face trials and difficulties, it’s so easy to rely on ourselves. To depend on our own strength and wisdom to deal with them. I know I do.

And perhaps that is one reason that God sometimes allows things that are too big for us. That overwhelm us. He allows them so that we stop relying on ourselves and start relying on him.

Paul certainly thought so.

He said,

We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

And in learning to trust and rely on God, he found hope.

He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again. (10)

What trials or difficulties are you going through now?

In whom are you placing your trust? In whom are you placing your hope?

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

A new start?

Happy New Year all!

With the new year, often comes New Year resolutions for a lot of people. The idea is, “Let’s have a new start, a fresh start.”

But the truth is, we don’t need a new start. We have already been given a new start in Jesus. As Paul wrote,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Note something: a lot of “fresh starts” we try to embark upon are based on our efforts, on what we do.

But our fresh start is by grace. As Paul says in verse 18, “Everything is from God.”

Our salvation, our cleansing, our being made more like Jesus…all this is from God.

We do not start the Christian life by grace and then live the rest of it based on our own efforts and willpower.

So remember: when we fall, when we sin, when we fail, we don’t have to go back to the very beginning and start all over again, looking for a “fresh start.”

Wherever we are at, Jesus is ahead of us, and showing us the next step. All we have to do is take that next step.

As you look at Jesus from where you’re at, what is the next step he is calling you to?

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Living by grace

2 Corinthians

I was thinking on a passage I was reading with my small group yesterday. It’s a pretty famous passage in which Paul talks about his “thorn in the flesh.”

Three times Paul asked that it be taken from him, and three times, God refused, answering,

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Paul, looking back on the experience, then said,

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (9b-10)

Truth be told, I hate being in places of weakness, where I don’t feel like I’m in control.

I suppose few people do.

My dad talked about it being like walking on a tightrope with no safety net below.

Not a comfortable feeling.

But if I don’t experience weakness, I’ll never truly experience God’s grace.

That was true when God saved me. (Romans 5:6)

It remains true even now.

So maybe I need to do a little more stepping out, reveling in my weakness.

I’m not exactly sure what that means for me now. But I’m sure it won’t be long before God starts telling me.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Take pleasure?

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12:9 is probably one of the most famous in the Bible.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

I wonder, though, how often we notice Paul’ application of those words.

Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (9b-10)

Do you take pleasure when you see your weaknesses? When people insult you? When you go through trials? When you suffer for being a Christian?

That seems crazy. Take pleasure?

In some Bibles, it translates Paul’s words, “I’m content.”

But the words are actually much stronger. They’re the same words God used when he said, “This is my Son. In Him I am well pleased.”

How could Paul say, “I take pleasure in weaknesses, and in all my trials and sufferings?”

Is he a masochist or something?

I don’t know about you, but it’s much easier for me to complain. To ask “Why, God? I don’t deserve this!”

I think Paul could say he took pleasure in those things, because in his weakness, he rediscovered the joy of grace.

What’s the joy of grace?

It’s recognizing first: “God I need you.”

And then it’s seeing that though you’re weak, though you fail, and though you have nothing to give God that would cause him to help you in your time of trouble, yet in love, he does.

“You have nothing to give to God that would cause him to help you.”

That’s something I think we especially tend to forget.

So often we think, “I deserve God’s blessings, because I do this, and this, and this.”

That’s why we get so frustrated when we face struggles and trials in our lives. We think we don’t deserve them.

But the truth is we fail God so often every day.

How often do we take him for granted? How often do prioritize other things over him? How often do we neglect him completely?

Maybe we read our Bible in the morning and pray. But then the rest of the day, we barely give him a second thought.

Instead every decision we make, every thing that we do is done in our own wisdom and strength. That’s true even for people in ministry. I do that sometimes.

But that’s not living by God’s grace.

But when we are confronted with our weaknesses, when we are confronted with situations that we can’t handle, it forces us to remember God and to rely on his grace once again.

And though we don’t deserve it, God pours his grace and love on us again.

So when Paul faced his weaknesses, when he faced his trials and struggles, he treated them as reminders from God, and he cried out once again, “God, I can’t do this! I need you!”

And in remembering that, he rediscovered the joy of a relationship with God.

Are you ashamed of your weaknesses? Of your failures? Are you struggling with trials bigger than you?

Don’t run from God in shame or anger.

Instead, cry out, “God, I can’t do this! I need you!”

And if you do, you will learn the meaning of the words,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Who we are pointing to

2 Corinthians

It’s so easy to compare ourselves with others. I do it all the time.

We say things like:

“I read my Bible every day.”

“I pray.”

“I fast.”

“I tithe.”

“I sacrifice for the church.”

And then we look at others and ask, “What are you doing?”

But to compare ourselves with others, Paul says, is to lack understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

What are we not understanding?

That each and every one of us stands on God’s grace alone.

Of course it’s good to read your Bible, pray, fast, and all the rest. But notice the first word of all those sentences: “I.”

And our salvation, our Christian lives, rest on what Jesus did, not what we do.

When you talk with others, who do you point to?

Yourself?

Or Jesus?

Do you point to what you do?

Or what he did on the cross, and the grace he pours on you each day?

If you’re boasting about yourself, you’re no longer living by grace. And you’re no longer standing in awe of Jesus and his cross.

So let’s stop looking at ourselves and comparing ourselves with others. Instead, “let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (17)

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

For you know…

2 Corinthians

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Take some time to meditate on those words. Memorize them. Think about them.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Really? Do you know the grace of Jesus in your life?

What does the grace of Jesus mean to you?

We were once poor. Wretched. Lost in our sin. We had nothing to offer God to make him accept us.

As the old hymn goes:

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace.

And yet Jesus left heaven, left glory, and became a man. Not a king. A simple carpenter. Not a handsome prince. An ordinary-looking man.

He suffered poverty. He suffered hardship. He suffered betrayal. He suffered the cross.

And because he did so, we are now rich.

Do you realize how rich you are? Do you feel rich?

Do you understand the grace of God in your life? The forgiveness you have received? The mercy?

Do you stand in awe at the love he pours into your life?

Or are you…cold?

Are these just empty words to you?

Lord, let me know your grace. Make it real to me. So real, that it transforms me. That it changes how I see you. How I see me. How I see everything around me. Help me to truly understand how rich I am in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

My God. My Father.

2 Corinthians

Whenever you look at this kind of passage, particularly 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1, it’s easy to focus on the commands:

Be separate.

Touch no unclean thing.

Cleanse yourself of every impurity.

Bring holiness to completion.

But before those words draw your attention, look at the promises of God:

“I will dwell among you.”

“I will walk among you.”

“I will be your God.”

“You will be my people.”

“I will welcome you.”

“I will be a Father to you.”

“You will be my son and daughters.”

To put things simply, meditate on these words:

“My God.”

“My Father.”

Think about what that means.

The God who created the entire universe with a word, he is your God.

The God who reigns as king and will one day judge the nations, he is your God.

He’s not just your pastor’s God. He’s not just my God. He’s not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is your God.

More, he is your Father.

He is not someone way out there who gives little to no thought to you.

He sees you. He knows you. He loves you. Because you are his child.

So focus on those two truths.

“He is my God.”

“He is my Father.”

Let those words sink into your heart.

HE is my God.

He IS my God.

He is MY God.

He is my GOD.

And again,

HE is my Father.

He IS my Father.

He is MY Father.

He is my FATHER.

And only after that, turn your attention to the commands.

For if the words “My God,” and “My Father” are written in your soul, if you stand in awe of those two truths, his commands are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

More, they become your joy. And your joy will be full. (John 15:11)

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

A word to think on

2 Corinthians

This verse struck me as I read this, and it’s one I’m trying to memorize. Let’s try to do this without looking.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we have behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by worldly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (2 Corinthians 1:12, ESV)

Not bad. One added word (have) and an extra comma, but other than that good. 🙂

Why memorize this verse?

I wonder if I can say this about myself? That in my interactions with the people in the world and especially within the church, I live with simplicity and godly sincerity?

Do I live according to worldly wisdom (see I Corinthians 3:1-4 and James 3:13-18).

Or do I live by God’s?

And most importantly, do I live by the grace of God? Does God’s grace fill me to the point where I overflow with it and it touches everyone around me?

I wish I could say yes.

These are words I need to meditate on more.

How about you?

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

A grace and love that is not weak

2 Corinthians

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:13)

Those are extremely famous words. But I wonder how often they are misunderstood.

Some people think of the grace and love of God, and they think of it as this soft and fluffy thing.

But Paul says this at the end of some extremely hard things he had to say to the Corinthian church. Some were questioning his apostleship. Others were living in unrepentant sin. (2 Corinthians 12:20-22)

And so Paul warns them, “If you do not get things right by the time I get there, I will have to deal with you. And you will not like it.” (2 Corinthians 13:2)

Then he tells them,

He (Christ) is not weak in dealing with you, but powerful among you.

For he was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of God. (2 Corinthians 13: 3-4)

Does that sound like a soft and fluffy love and grace to you?

And so Paul tells them,

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. (2 Corinthians 13:5)

He said something very similar in his first letter to the Corinthians when talking about the judgment that was coming upon them for not treating the Lord’s table with proper reverence.

 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)

If we, who are the Lord’s, will not properly test and judge our own actions and motives, the Lord will discipline us. Not because he hates us, but out of his love and grace so that we will not be condemned with the world.

That’s why Paul clarified that when he exercised his authority to bring discipline upon them, it was not to tear them down, but to build them up. (2 Corinthians 13:10)

And his prayer in all this was that they would become mature (2 Corinthians 13:11).

It is with all this in mind, that Paul then concludes,

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:13)

This grace and love is not a soft grace.

It is a grace that disciplines, so that we might be one with him in the Holy Spirit, and one with one another.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Characterized by surpassing grace

2 Corinthians

There are more than a few famous verses in this passage related to giving. But today, it was one less often quoted verse that struck me today.

In talking about how people would respond to the generosity of the Corinthians, Paul wrote,

And as they pray on your behalf, they will have deep affection for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. (2 Corinthians 9:14)

When I read that, I thought, “What do people see in me? When people look at me and think of me, is ‘the surpassing grace of God’ the first thing they think of? Do they think of me with deep affection because of the surpassing grace of God within me?”

I have my doubts.

I do try to be gracious. But maybe that’s part of the problem. Grace is not something we should have to consciously think about turning on in our lives. It should naturally flow from us every moment of every day.

When Jesus came, John says that he was full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus spoke truth while he was on earth, even when it was painful for others to hear. He himself was truth.

But most people didn’t shy from him because he was also full of grace as well. And that grace showed in his attitudes, words, and deeds.

That’s what I want to be. A man marked by others as one filled with and overflowing with surpassing grace.

How different would this world be if we, the church, were marked not only by the truth we proclaim, but by the surpassing grace of Jesus Christ within us?

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

Because we are loved

2 Corinthians

Something struck me as I read this passage for perhaps the thousandth time.

A single word: beloved.

Paul says in chapter 7, verse 1,

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (ESV)

The CSB and other translations often translate “beloved” as “dear friends,” which of course gives the impression that it is Paul who loved the Corinthians.

And certainly Paul did love them.

But I wonder if perhaps in this case, he did not primarily mean “beloved of God.”

When you look at the previous verses, he says,

For we are the temple of the living God, as God said:
I will dwell
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.,

Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.

And I will be a Father to you,
and you will be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty. (6:16-18)

All these reflect the special relationship, we have with God, and the love that he has for us. And it is immediately after this, that Paul says,

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (7:1)

It is because we are God’s temple, and he dwells and walks among us that we are to be separate from this world.

It is because he is our God and we are his people that we are to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit that comes from sin.

It is because he is our Father, and we are his beloved sons and daughters, that we are to fear him, longing to be holy as he is holy, not being satisfied where we are as Christians, but bringing holiness to completion in our lives.

That is our motivation for holiness. Or at least, it should be. Is it yours?

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

The glory of Yahweh

2 Corinthians

The glory of Yahweh.

Those words bring up a lot of images to my mind. You find those words repeated time and again in the Old Testament.

(For those of you who don’t know, whenever you see LORD in all capital letters in your Bible, it stands for God’s divine name, “Yahweh.” So every time you see “glory of the LORD” in the Old Testament, it’s talking about the glory of Yahweh.).

I think of Moses beholding Yahweh from behind the rock, but unable to see his full glory.

I think of the tabernacle, and then later the temple, being filled with the glory of Yahweh, so that the priests could not enter.

I think of Isaiah seeing the glory of Yahweh, with the seraphim singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh Almighty.”

And of course, how could you not think of the glory of Yahweh appearing before the shepherds at the time of Jesus’ birth?

In the New Testament, the word, “Lord” is often used to translate the Old Testament word “Yahweh,” as is seen in the last example.

But at the same time, it is also used to refer to Jesus, both in the gospels and the epistles.

Many times Paul uses the word “Lord” to refer specifically to Jesus, but in this particular passage, I think we see an exception, or perhaps a double meaning.

For there is no doubt that Paul did believe Jesus was indeed Yahweh, that is, Yahweh the Son, in comparison to Yahweh the Father, and Yahweh the Spirit.

(I know, we usually say “God” instead of “Yahweh,” but we’re saying the same thing.)

Anyway, like I said, Paul seems to be using “Lord” here primarily to refer to the triune Yahweh, in contrast to Jesus only.

Why do I say so? A couple of reasons.

First, he refers to Moses encountering Yahweh in the book of Exodus, and second, he refers to the “glory of the Lord.”

You can, of course, definitely refer to the glory of Christ, because he shares the glory of the Father.

But since Paul referred to Moses, it seems best to think of it as the “glory of Yahweh” that Moses saw in Exodus, instead of merely the glory of the Son.

Anyway, back to my point, one thing you note time and again in the Old Testament is that it was impossible for people to gaze upon the full glory of Yahweh and live. They were always “veiled” from it in one way or another.

But here, Paul says, “Where the Spirit of Yahweh is, there is now freedom.”

Because of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, we can now behold Yahweh’s glory unveiled.

And now, that glory doesn’t destroy us. Rather, it transforms us into God’s image from one degree of glory to another.

I don’t know about you, but to me that’s amazing. So each day, let us take time contemplating the glory of Yahweh, the glory of our salvation, and the glory of God’s grace.

And as we do, we will be transformed.

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2 Corinthians Devotionals

The grace shown us in ministry

2 Corinthians

It’s been a slow week in terms of blogging for me this week. I suppose I shouldn’t feel bad about it since I made no guarantees about how often I would blog.

I think that for me, this has been a week for chewing on the Word, which makes for good meditation, but not necessarily for blogging. (I have no idea if that makes any sense or not).

One thing I’m chewing on is this passage from 2 Corinthians.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Paul tells us here that when God sees us in the midst of the unbelievers around us, he smells the aroma of Christ in us.

That’s an amazing thing when I think about it. Why would I have the fragrance of Christ, when there is still so much sin in me?

A single word: Grace.

The grace that God pours out on me through the cross of Christ.

It is not that I intrinsically bear the fragrance of Christ. But his grace has so been poured out on me, that to God, it fills whatever room that I am in.

And when I preach the word to those around me, they sense that grace in me as well. To some, it is the fragrance of life. To others, it is the stench of death.

But to God, in Christ, I am a sweet-smelling fragrance to him.

Paul then says in chapter 3,

Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God.

It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

So often, I look at myself, and I don’t see myself as that fragrance that God sees me as. I see all my frailties and weaknesses. And yet, by his grace, God makes me competent to make a difference in the lives of the people around me.

Because the thing is, it’s not I who gives people life. It’s the Spirit of God living in me that does that.

All I have to do is what Paul did:

Speak with sincerity in Christ,

as from God and

before God. (2:17)

And God will do the rest.

It is very similar, in fact, to what Paul said in chapter 1.

The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom but by God’s grace. (2 Corinthians 1:12)

I don’t know about you, but that’s how I want to be. That’s how I want to live.

Living in godly sincerity.

Living in purity.

Living not in worldly wisdom that leads to jealousy, selfish ambition, and boasting (James 3:14).

But living by grace.

And it is that grace that will make a difference not only in us, but in the lives we touch.

May we live each day walking in that grace.