Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 12:11-21 before reading the devotional below.

It’s tough to have leaders who tell you what you don’t want to hear. Paul has spent this entire letter defending himself, explaining why his integrity is trustworthy, and refocusing the Corinthians on the truth of Jesus’ free salvation. The false teachers he has mentioned may have been preaching Jesus + something else. But they also may have been preaching the opposite kind of message.

In America, we get a lot of the “do what feels right” messaging. In ancient Greece, the culture wasn’t all that different. It would be very easy for people to come into the church and falsely teach that sin doesn’t matter all that much. What is sin, anyway? You can follow Jesus and still make your own decisions, right?

Here’s your freedom for today:

Jesus thinks you’re better than that.

At the end of today’s passage, Paul gives a hard-hitting list of sins: quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior, impurity, sexual immorality, and lustful pleasure. That pretty much covers it… Before we go ranking those sins from least to greatest, let’s just notice that Paul doesn’t give them any special order. They are all the opposite of God’s kingdom. And God wants all that out of your life, not because he wants to kill your fun or limit your self-expression, but because he thinks you’re better than that. You are worth more. You can be better. Your whole, healed self doesn’t have any of those things. Are there some things you want to rise above today? Can you envision how God sees you — who did he make you to be?

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 before reading the devotional below.

God doesn’t always answer our prayers how we want him to. Paul can relate to that. He asked God repeatedly to remove some type of physical ailment — what he calls “a thorn in the flesh” — and God does not. Paul says that God kept that torment in his life so that he would not become proud. He needed to learn to rely fully on God.

Paul mentions his torment right after sharing about the significant supernatural encounters he had when he first started following Jesus. He could certainly have considered himself a spiritual giant. I bet you can imagine that Paul’s message could have slowly shifted over those 14 years to less about Jesus and more about Paul. His point here is that he’s not going with the argument, “Listen to me! I’m so great!” but instead, “Listen to me, I’m still pointing to Jesus.”

Here’s your freedom for today:

God’s power dwells within your weakness.

We don’t like to think about weakness much. America is full of products that aim to end any type of momentary suffering. We want to feel good. All the time. But spiritually, God sometimes allows pain or suffering in our lives for our benefit. Suffering is not seen as “bad” but actually spiritually useful. Learning to rely on God is so important to your spiritual well-being that God may not remove everything from your life that you wish he would. What situations could you accept today, relying on God to meet you in that place? What does his grace mean for you today?

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 before reading the devotional below.

If you have never read the book of Acts, I would encourage you to read it. (You can search by category in the right-hand margin and pull up our series on Acts as well.) Paul refers to a story we can read about in Acts 9:22-27 shortly after he started preaching that Jesus was the Messiah (a savior long awaited by the Jews). He is referred to as Saul, the name he was known by until he encountered Jesus supernaturally. He was in the business of killing Christians until he got knocked off his horse and given a new assignment.

If you have read about Paul’s life, then you understand his writing in today’s passage. The guy has been through a lot. He risked his life more times than most of us have done for the cause of Jesus. In fact, it might seem a bit nonsensical. Why would he risk his whole life? At some point, wouldn’t it make sense to back off a little? Death threats are pretty serious business.

Here’s your freedom for today:

Life with Jesus is worth the risk.

Sometimes, I think our spiritual lives in America don’t involve enough risk. We hear “Christians” complain of being “persecuted” when people make a big deal about saying “Merry Christmas” or something else. Please. Paul almost died for the sake of the Gospel repeatedly. Would those of us sitting on a comfy couch, reading our feel-good devotionals, actually be willing to live a faith like that? What risks is God daring you to take today? What limits could you push past to dive into a supernatural kind of life? How can you make your life more about Jesus and less about your own comfort?

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 before reading the devotional below.

How do you decide who to listen to? How do evaluate what is true? Who have you determined is trustworthy? These are questions facing the Corinthian church as they have Paul who has preached one thing and “false apostles” who are preaching something else. It is unclear exactly what they are falsely preaching, but from other parts of the New Testament we might guess that their message was Jesus + rituals = salvation.

Paul has made it clear throughout this letter that he is not fighting for his own popularity. He is calling them out and holding them to the true message of Jesus: your sins are forgiven. Everyone is welcome at Jesus’ table. Being Jewish doesn’t save you. Religious rituals don’t save you. It’s Jesus and nothing else.

Here’s your freedom for today:

You can trust those who continue to serve.

People who are looking for power, fame, or money end up showing their true colors in the end. They don’t stick around if you don’t give them what they want. Those who are trustworthy are those who willingly serve you even when they get nothing in return. Paul is making a commitment to the Corinthians that he will continue to serve them, despite bad treatment. He sees that the spiritual battle is not about him. He’s staying in the ring to fight for the truth and the well-being of the Corinthian church. Who do you know that is worth listening to today? Who has shown a willingness to stick with you no matter what?

Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 10 before reading the devotional below.

Paul’s effort to win over the Corinthians continues as he explores his “forceful” writing in contrast with his mild manner in person. It’s interesting how influential those immediately around us can be. From what we can read here, it sounds like Paul is deeply influential and important to the Corinthian church. But when he is away from them they forget his instruction and perceive his letters to be harsh. The other leaders who are pulling them away have a message that is a little easier to take.

It’s easy to gravitate to people who tell you what you want to hear. It’s a lot harder to stick with those people when they need to call you out on something. Paul is the first to admit that he’s not the world’s greatest letter-writer or speaker. But that doesn’t matter when the Holy Spirit is the one doing the work.

Here’s your freedom for today:

When you know God, you don’t need to prove yourself.

Paul is confident of one thing: God has given him good work to do. He preaches with authority because he is confident in who Jesus is. He doesn’t need to worry about whether other people like him. He is focused on the mission. While we certainly don’t need to be obnoxious (as sadly Christians sometimes are), we don’t have to prove ourselves by earthly standards. Paul’s work is either going to be supernaturally accomplished by the Holy Spirit or it isn’t. Those results will speak for themselves.