Beyond the Gospels: Corinthians

Today's Verses: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
(No Bible handy? Just click on the link to read the Scripture.)

I don't think it is coincidence this is the same passage of Scripture our pastor read yesterday. The same words he spoke about from the pulpit. I believe sometimes God places things in front of us more than once to make a point. We heard from the sermon yesterday: In Christ we are made new... not refurbished or fixed up or re-purposed... we are made brand new. This word spoken in worship yesterday and again today leads me to think he might be speaking not only to us as individuals but as the body of Christ.

Is it possible God is reminding us He makes all things new? Most of us like new things in general, but when the new brings change to something we are used to or like the way it is, it can cause fear or anxiety... maybe even resistance. Have you been resisting something new lately? Is it time to remember Jesus is in the business of making all things new... each and everything? Let's embrace the new Jesus makes in us and around us as we watch the beauty of spring unfold.

Father God, help me to remember Jesus came to make all things new,

not for my own glory or enjoyment but for His. Open my heart and increase my faith

to the new You want to do in my life and in the life of Your Church.

Remind me I am an ambassador for Jesus through whom

You are making an appeal to an unbelieving world.

Beyond the Gospels: Corinthians

Today's Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
(Click on the link to read today's verses.)

"We make it our goal to please him." 

Goal is defined as something you are trying to do or achieve; the object of a person's ambition or effort. Goals both spoken and unspoken run our lives. Graduation... college... careers. We set financial goals and parenting goals. Just waking up in the morning gets us thinking about what goals must be achieved for the day. Oh how successful we feel when the last to-do is checked off our list.

I wonder... what would happen if pleasing him was at the top of my list? What if every goal I set came under the heading: To Please Him? I could just sit here and ponder the thought, but that's not me. Instead I think I will put this idea into action. Maybe you would join me?

The weekend is upon us so let's give it a try. Wake up each morning and whisper these words:

"My goal today, Lord, is to please you." 

May everything we do become an offering with one goal. May our ambition and effort and achievements reach  high for one reason... pleasing Him.

Lord, make my life pleasing to You!

Beyond the Gospels: Corinthians

Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
(No Bible handy? Click on the link to read today's verses.)

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

I'm writing this just one day after a visit to the voting polls. Election year has just begun and I'm already frustrated by what I see. I don't watch or listen to the news much because it just seems everyone is shouting their opinions and perspectives. I visit a few websites and narrow it down some, but in the end nothing I've read or discussed or heard feels right. All this "seeing" just left me a bit confused. I'm in a bit of a pickle so the saying goes, and in that moment I ask, "God, what is your way for me in this?" 

Reading Paul's words this morning reminded me that a simple prayer for help in a decision has eternal significance. Every moment... every decision gives us an opportunity to fix our eyes on the seen or unseen. 

What areas of your life are you most likely to fix your eyes on what is seen? Take a moment to consider the unseen in those areas.

Lord Jesus, keep my eyes fixed on the eternal, the unseen,

because everything else is just temporary.

Teach me to focus on faith, hope, love,

not politics, the economy, or war.

I want to live a life of eternal significance,

reveal the unseen behind what I see.

Beyond the Gospels: Corinthians

Today's Verses: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
(Click on the link to read today's Scripture.)

God said, "Let light shine out of darkness." Darkness does not produce light. It doesn't create light, but it is the place where we become aware that light shines.

I was watching a television show just recently about survival. The man demonstrating how to get out of the Brazilian forest. He's following a river when it disappears into a cave. He wades into the darkness with a handmade torch and his camera man in tow. All the while I'm thinking... nope. Not me, I would have to find some other way or just die right there in the jungle. No way I'm venturing into complete darkness. I watch as the two men try to find their way through the dark, lit only by the burning twig torch. It wasn't long before he fell and the torch was extinguished. There he and his camera guy stood in complete darkness. The only way to see was to look through the lens of the camera. Honestly I was a little shaky inside. I'm silently cheering them on, wondering when in the world the darkness would turn to light. He keeps moving through the water with hands reaching to the side and front of him. As he instructs his partner to stay close, there in the corner of the screen a light shines and I give a sigh of relief.

Like the man following the river, sometimes following God leads us through darkness. There are times when we just sit right down and refuse to go any farther. Other times we attempt to take our own light with us. The Psalmist wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." I think the key to walking through darkness is choosing to trust in the face of our own fear. As people of the Light, we just keep moving hand over hand, slowly making our way until the light breaks through.

Have you been walking in darkness lately? Take heart brothers and sisters, no darkness can extinguish the Light of the World.

Father God, remind me, when it feels like the darkness is overtaking my life that You are with me and darkness is as light to You. You know why You've allowed a dark time to enter my life. You know what You long for me to see in the dark, to learn in the dark: You are trustworthy. Amen.

Beyond the Gospels: Corinthians

Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 3

[No Bible close by? Just click on the link and read.]

But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.-vs. 14

Moses spent days on the mountain with God. When he would come down to speak to the Israelites he covered his face with a veil because it literally glowed. This is the same veil Paul is talking about here in Corinthians.

Webster's describes a veil as a concealing curtain or cover of cloth. When we read God's Word as just a book without the resurrection knowledge of Christ, a covering still remains. The Scriptures become a list of rules to follow... a way to decide who is in and who is out. The truth remains veiled without the power of Christ.

Baptism takes on a new picture to me when I read these words. The waters of baptism falling from a new believer's face are like the removing of a veil. Yes, we are dead to sin. Yes, we are raised from the water a new creation. The old is gone and the new begins. And in this re-birth we have a new way to read. In Christ we read unveiled words that reveal life and love and truth. What was once just a book has become a story... my story... your story. Oh, what a beautiful story it is.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making Your Word come alive to me.

Thank You for making me alive in Your Word.