If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. —2 Corinthians 11:30


Our loyalty to Jesus grows from His love for us.


The apostle Paul was an avid first-century traveler, but he wasn’t in it for the “frequent-sailor miles.” His goal was to reach as many people as he could with the good news of forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus. When some people in the city of Corinth questioned his authority, he wrote a letter describing the price he had paid to bring the gospel to others: “Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep” (2 Cor. 11:25). God gave Paul the grace and endurance to risk his life to tell people about Jesus with no thought of personal gain.

Whether we receive persecution or praise for our service to the Lord, may our focus always be loyalty to Him and gratitude for His sacrifice of love.

 To modern-day followers of Christ, the apostle Paul is held in the highest regard for his tireless work of teaching, church-planting, and writing of biblical letters. This, however, was not the case in the first century. Even after years of faithful service, Paul had to write the letter of 2 Corinthians to defend his calling and ministry, which was being questioned by people in Corinth. 
Today’s reading is a part of that defense of his ministry.
Whether we receive persecution or praise for our service to the Lord, may our focus always be loyalty to Him and gratitude for His sacrifice of love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.

Image
“It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5) It has been said that when you get to the end of yourself, you get to the beginning of God. Many times when hardship comes, we have our own plans for how to handle it. We have plan A, B, C, D, and E. And after we have exhausted all of those, we find ourselves in that place where we say, “If God doesn’t come through for me, it is over with. This is horrible.” But actually, it is not horrible, because it is an opportunity for God to show His glory. When times are tough, we have a built in instinct to become dependent upon God for strength that is needed. It is obvious that so many of us are growing weary in these dark days of oppression that we live.  Struggles surround us at every corner and it is hard to stave off the growing fears of uncertainty.  We were told in the Scripture that these times would come and test the faithful, but how do we keep standing
Read more

sometimes the lord will have to break you to mould you into his very likness

Image
Lord make me and mold me into the person You want me to be. The Bible says in Isaiah 64:8 that He is the potter and we are the clay.  Let's be who He wants us to be!!!!! Why do my lips sing, “Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me” yet my selfish heart cries, “Bless me, extol me, affirm me, approve me, provide for me?” Could it be that I tend to forget one of Scriptures truest principles? God develops the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives by allowing us to experience circumstances in which we are tempted to express the exact opposite quality.  God wants to teach us biblical love by putting unlovely people around us. God’s classroom for teaching us  genuine joy is the place of sorrow. It is in the midst of chaos and confusion that you discover real peace. God’s method of character development is to “break you, melt you, mold you…” “Mold” me.  The dictionary defines the verb “mold” as “ to form, shape, fashion, model an object with a particular shape.” God’s plan and purp
Read more

God is collecting your tears -psalm 56:8

Image
GOD KNOWS!!! Your tears have a voice  and they get God's attention. whatever concerns you ,,,concerns him and he collects the tears that scream his name. In that moment of mixed emotions, I desperately needed God’s comfort and reassurance, and I found it in Psalm 56:8. "You keep track of all my sorrows.You have collected all my tears in your bottle.You have recorded each one in your book." I love the image of God keeping all my tears in a bottle. I can envision shelves filled with bottles in Heaven, each with a name on it, and an accompanying scroll documenting every tear and lament.  I wonder, does my bottle have my name on it?  Is it a special color?  I wonder if God, my Father looks at my bottle full of tears and says, “Ah, that one is my daughter, Gracy’s! Her bottle of tears is so precious to me and I treasure each one. I am intimately acquainted with all her ways and I love her.  When she has cried tears that no one sees, I have seen, I know and cherish ea
Read more