Author: Kristen Kansiewicz, LMHC

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 1 before reading the devotional below.

As we begin this series on 2 Corinthians, I would encourage you to go back and read the series on 1 Corinthians if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet. This is a second letter that we have from Paul to the Corinthian church, though there are references to other letters which we no longer have today. To understand more about the background of 2 Corinthians, read this or this.

I wanted to start this series with the whole first chapter because I found myself asking, “Why did Paul immediately start writing about the way that God comforts us in trouble?” Reading the whole chapter gives you the sense of what has happened: Paul was unable to visit them as planned. He starts out emphasizing trouble and suffering to explain all that he has faced and why he was unable to come to them. Not all the believers in Corinth were necessarily trusting of Paul, so he’s going out of his way to prove himself trustworthy in the midst of not keeping to his word of coming back.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God works it out when things don’t work out.

Paul says a lot about God in this chapter, so go back and re-read it focusing on God’s character more than Paul’s journey. God comforts. He rescues. He keeps his promises. He strengthens us in our faith. He places the Holy Spirit within us. Often our plans do not work out, but God remains good. He remains faithful. When God works things out, it doesn’t mean that our practical realities improve. Sometimes they don’t. But God will bring goodness into our lives when our plans fail. He will help us stand firm when we face difficulties and trials. God is faithful.

Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 16 before reading the devotional below.

In this final chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul is wrapping up and giving instructions for how they should receive coming missionaries. He talks about his plans loosely, always willing to say that his steps are determined by God. We also find out that Paul did not physically write his own letter, but instead dictated it to a scribe of some sort. In verse 21 the handwriting changes and Paul’s large, messy scrawl is apparent in the original letter.

Let’s zoom in on verses 13 and 14. These brief verses have a feel of urgency to them, laid right in the middle of a variety of practical instructions. “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.” Paul is summing up the entire letter here, and it’s a great reminder of how we are to live the Christian life. Stay in the supernatural battle. Don’t forget the Gospel. Take spiritual risks. And just in case you have forgotten, if you don’t love then the whole thing is useless.

Here’s your freedom for today:

You can go beyond the ordinary.

There are so many books, movies, and themes of humanity that revolve around stepping out into another type of world to do something brave. These plots have the ordinary people doing their mundane thing, but behind that is a world that has much more at stake. Paul’s words here remind us that choosing to follow Jesus carries you into a world that is far beyond ordinary. Battles are fought and wars lost and won. You were made for more. You have supernatural weapons, the most powerful one being love. Is this what you think about when you wake up in the morning? Is this how you are living your life? Don’t settle for ordinary — step into something bigger.

Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 before reading the devotional below.

Do you ever wonder why we’re here on this earth? And what happens when we die? Is there really such a thing as eternal life? As we mentioned in an earlier post, not all early Christians believed in resurrection. No afterlife, no heaven. This was not the good news of Jesus, so Paul is correcting their theology in this letter. One of the biggest issues with the afterlife was that some couldn’t quite picture it — “Okay, if we are resurrected, what do our bodies look like?”

Paul turns this question upside-down and calls it ridiculous. Talk about missing the point. He uses the metaphor of a seed and a plant, which is a pretty awesome description of how to think about your eternal life. The difference between a seed and a full-grown tree is pretty big! That’s how much you can’t imagine what eternity is like with God.

Here’s your freedom for today:

You are becoming someone amazing.

If who you are now is only a tiny seed of who you are becoming, what do you imagine might be possible for you in eternity? When a seed dies, that is when real life can spring forth and the seed’s ultimate purpose is realized. You were made for heaven. You are becoming someone amazing — almost incomprehensible to you now. No part of you is ever wasted, and everything you do that has eternal value will be the soil you grow into.

Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 15:24-34 before reading the devotional below.

Paul wrote this letter not long after Jesus’ time on earth, which was about 2,000 years ago. He thought the end of the world was imminent. He risked his life daily for the cause. Yet here we are, two millennia later, and Jesus has not come back to earth. Was Paul right about the end of the world, or was he all wrong? Did he risk his life for a cause that wasn’t all that urgent?

Perhaps a more important question comes from the rest of what Paul says in this passage: how are you living your life? We don’t know when Jesus will return to earth, but we need to live like Paul and assume it could be at any moment. Because once he comes, it’s too late to change.

Here’s your freedom for today:

It’s not too late to change your life.

There’s a lot we don’t fully understand about what Paul is saying in this passage. Jesus is reigning now, and he will reign until all his enemies have been brought down. Then he’ll turn control back over to the Father. There’s an interaction within God himself that we can’t fully grasp. But understanding everything isn’t required for following Jesus. If our attitude is, “Eat, drink, and be merry” we are acting as if Jesus death and resurrection don’t matter. We’re acting as if there is no end to this world. What do you believe about the end of the world? What makes you have that view? How does that impact the way you are living your life?

Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 15:12-23 before reading the devotional below.

Today Paul talks about the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrection of Jesus. You might be wondering what the issue is — why even address this? We know from other stories in the Bible that some Jewish sects, particularly the Sadducees, did not believe in any kind of afterlife. When you die, that’s it. The good news of Jesus, however, is that Jesus died and came back to life. Not only that, but he did that in order to give us eternal life as well. Resurrection is a key supernatural phenomenon to these ideas.

The only way our sins are forgiven is if Jesus overcame the death that is the required payment for our sins. In Genesis 3, we can read about Adam and Eve and their deal with Satan. He promised them the knowledge of good and evil if they ate from the tree. But they already had the knowledge of good — they were intimately connected with God. So ultimately all he really had to give them was evil. They gave away their God-given authority over all the creatures in the Garden to a creature that brought them nothing but evil. They sold their souls for a false promise.

Here’s your freedom for today:

You have a new chance at life.

You might think it’s unfair that Adam and Eve’s choice to give away their authority to Satan means you have a death penalty. And you’re right. It’s not fair. But Paul makes the point in this passage that Jesus made things right by saving us all. One guy screwed up the world, and another guy came to fix it. One brought death, the other brings life. Jesus overcame death to give you a new chance at life.