Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Days 286 & 287: 2 Corinthians 5–13

I think the two letters to the Corinthians are difficult to simply read through in this type of exercise. It seems like there is a lot going on under the surface...there's a back story to these writings that we're missing. Paul seems to assume the reader is aware of everything that is going on in the Corinthian church. So, to really understand these books, I think we need to do some research of our own to find out what we're missing.

That said, I think the following passage is a beautiful and very complete description of what it is to live life "on  mission" as a Christ-follower:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)
Then there is this passage late in 2 Corinthians. It's another reminder that Jesus purpose is not necessarily to make our lives comfortable...
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 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. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

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