Giving Generously

2 Corinthians 8

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (vs 9).

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers about how generous other churches - groups of believers - had been in giving to 'in need' believers in Jerusalem. This encouragement/exhortation from Paul included pointing out that those who gave in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea gave beyond what was expected! What was expected in that they were in poverty themselves! Yet they gave sacrificially and with a desire to give! They weren't feeling guilty, they weren't giving to get in return, they weren't lording it over others...they gave out of their own need!

Paul also shared with the Corinthians that these churches, in a certain way, were following their Savior. Paul elaborates that out of God's grace (which is how the churches gave so generously out of what they didn't have), Jesus Christ became poor so that through His poverty, believers could become rich! It wasn't that Jesus while on earth in His humanity was necessarily poorer than most first century Palestinians - it was that Jesus left the riches of heaven and glory - He set aside His rights and privileges of being...God! - and came to earth. Came to earth to live among us. And believe me, the wealthiest person who has ever lived and will ever live on this earth is less than a grain of sand in all the earth privileged and with rights, compared to Jesus in Glory. Jesus did that so that believers, all who would receive Him, would be come rich - rich as to real life, rich as to eternity, rich as to have everything we need for life and Godliness.

If Jesus had not become poor, if He had not come - Corinthians, you and I would have been/be lost and undone. SO, for those in Macedonia (Philippi, Thessolinica, and Berea) to give sacrificially was a (super) natural act as being receptors of God's glorious grace and riches!

Have you ever given sacrificially? Out of what you didn't have? I haven't...I live frugally, simply, not seeking what Americans would consider luxurious, I don't spend money I don't have (by God's grace I don't have any debt...nor do I have great savings :)), and I get joy out of giving and being generous...as some might consider generous. BUT, I have not given as the Macedonian believers are recorded as highlighted by Paul. I have not given accordingly as the 'widows mite' - "but she, being poor as she is, has given everything she has to live on" (Mark 12:41-44).

I have not given 'being poor, everything I have to live on.' Have you? Like Jesus? Like the Macedonian believers? Like the widow?

"Lord please forgive me and forgive us for ways we have not been as generous as You have called us to be. You reveal, through the Apostle Paul, how giving and generosity is a matter of our hearts, which works out on a practical level. Your Spirit is able, willing, and wanting to reveal to each one of us just how generous Jesus has and is to us, and how generous You would have each one of us to be. The outward manifestation of this giving is not the point, however the heart of the matter is revealed in the outward manifestation. Speak to my heart Holy Spirit. Speak to our hearts Holy Spirit. Fill me, fill us Lord with greater faith and trust in You. Help us to be free...free to give. Thanks for loving us Lord, we love You."

Godly vs. Worldy Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation [and life!] and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" ( vs 10, [ ]added by me). This is a profound Truth that each one of us has gone through or has had the opportunity to experience. There are two realities that strike me in what Paul is writing in this chapter. The first has to do with speaking (or writing) the Truth in Love. The second has to do with the difference between 'being sorry' because of an offense that is against God, others, and ourselves, and 'being sorry' because of the earthly effects of an offense and our pride being pricked in 'getting caught' in our sin.

Paul loved these Corinthian folk! It is so evident in his description of the process of his rebuke of them in the sin that was committed (look back at chapter 2 for a refresher...and it seems there was a third letter Paul wrote which is lost to us and not recorded in Scripture), his description of how he feels about them, and the actions he has taken toward them and on behalf of them. Paul spoke the Truth in Love. The folks heard him because it was first evident that Paul loved them and that he was rebuking them "out of" his love for them; not for any other reason.

Doesn't that make a difference to you? I know it does for me. Someone who loves me can say the same thing to me that someone who doesn't (seem) to love me - my response is very different to the one who loves me, than the one who doesn't....even if what is being said is true. (By God's grace, we can receive the truth by whoever speaks it and it will be for our good...but that is for another writing)!

The other striking reality is the motivation behind my response matters in the outcome of the sorrowfulness or repentance! Inside, if my thinking is focused on the destructive or negative effects of my action in getting caught - or my pride being exposed that I acted wrongly or sinfully, then the result is death! The result is just a dead-end..wallowing in the earthly components with no life-giving change!

BUT GOD - if the motivation behind my responsive sorrow is the recognition that I've caused destruction in hurting others, myself, and acted against God - the lover of my soul(!), then my repentance will usher in healing, growth, and good fruit...life!

Have you experienced the difference in these two motivations and outcomes? I have. When I am sorrowful that my hopes have been dashed because I got 'caught', then I end up repeating the same scenerio! The dressing might be different, but the thread is the same! When my sorrow is because of my relationship with God, others, and myself - the hurt and pain caused, then I experience God's (and other's) grace, forgiveness, and strength within to not go down that path again! The inside has changed, which was the cause of the action in the first place!

"Lord, even as I reflect on this part of Paul's story with the Corinthian believers, I know that there is something here that You want to reveal to me. I know that there is something You want to reveal to all reading this reflection. God, help us to open our hearts, spirits, minds to receive You in this Scripture - Godly sorrow leads to repentance and life; earthly sorrow leads to death. Show us Your Life Lord, and any areas where each of us need to see this difference. Thanks for loving us Lord. We love You."

The Promises of God and Contamination

2 Corinthians 7:1

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

Since we have these promises... . I love Paul's reminder of the order of things. It isn't that we work hard to rid ourselves of every contaminate within and without and THEN we receive God's promises. It is that BECAUSE we have God's promises, that He has given to us first, freely, and in Love and sacrifice....we Want to be free of contamination from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Is this your experience? Do you know God's promises to you as His son or daughter? Specifically for Paul in this narrative is from verse 16: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." This promise fulfills all the other promises which are noted and recorded through the Old and New Testament. Emmanuel, God (is) with us. God is with you.

God is so Faithful and True that He not only Has initiated a life changing, eternal, and close relationship with us (how much closer can a relationship be than to have the One with whom you are in relationship with, live INSIDE of you???), He has not only recorded Who He is and His promises to us in a book called "The Bible" but He also allows us to experience Him, Who He is, our relationship with Him, and His promises to us.

We experience Him through the Holy Spirit, through relationships with the body of Christ, and through others around us. Sometimes one of the biggest issues is that we don't connect the experience of God and His promises in our lives, because we don't know the character of God or His promises. This is one reason why reading and meditating on God's Word in the Bible is so important. This spiritual discipline/practice helps us to know God, what to expect from God, and how God relates to us.

Check out these Scripture promises: Deuteronomy 31:6 - God is a;ways with you; Romans 8:28 - God is always working 'all things working for your good" plan; Psalm 27:13 - God is always Good; 1 Corinthians 10:13 - God is always faithful; Isaiah 54:15-17 - God is always victorious (paraphrased from message by James McDonald on 'The Promises of God').

"Lord thank You for You and for Your promises toward me/us. Thank You that it is because of Your Great Love that I am/we are not consumed; that we can call on You to enable us to be 'contamination free'...and we want to because of Who You are! We need You Jesus...we could not endure the world, flesh, and devil if it were not for YOU - thank You for being Emmanuel, God with us!"

The Same Direction, Same Foundation

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers...What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?...As God has said:'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people" (vs 14,15,16 - portions of each).

Folks in the Corinthian Church had lived as non-believers, and then came to faith in Christ, becoming born-again, becoming believers. They became folks (as all believers) who were the temples of the Holy Spirit, they had the Holy Spirit now living within them, taking up residence! What a difference in their lives, in their identities! They were no longer the same. They were new creations - as we read about in 2 Corinthians 5!

That is like many of us - in fact, while some may be younger in years than others when they are born-again, born of the Spirit; everyone has spent some time as unbelievers! When I received Jesus, was filled with His Spirit, became a new creation (I like emphasizing the super-natural act that God did!), I was 24 yrs of age.

At 24 yrs., I had been dating a young man - he and I were not believers, and we lived as non-believers. When I became a believer, he did not. We continued to date - and as a young believer, it took some time to walk in my new identity...I had some left-overs that needed to be shed - and by God's grace they were, in time :)

Well, I became increasingly convicted, by the Holy Spirit, that to continue to be joined with this young man, was not of God! Yet it was difficult for me to break away, because I loved him! After about 6 months, the Lord became stronger in me than my old ways...so once again I shared with this young man what happened in my life with God. My prayer and hope was that he too would become a believer. One more time I shared the Gospel of Salvation with him. Explaining that because of this, because of my relationship with Jesus, I couldn't continue to date him. I explained that he was walking down the road in one direction, and I was walking the opposite way. He looked at me very seriously and said, "it's OK...I will let you go to church... ."

He didn't get it. It wasn't and isn't about going to church...it isn't about different activities, or ideas. Sure, I began going to church, but that was because I had the desire to be around others who were seeking Jesus! My activities were different and my ideas, but not in and of themselves - my worldview was different! It was from above, not earthly. How can two walk together unless they are going in the same direction?

So, I let this young man go. It broke my heart, it broke his but also made him angry. I could not continue with him; what usually happens when a believer dates, marries, becomes business partners, or holds something tangible in common with an unbeliever? The believer usually ends up compromising his/her relationship with Jesus. No matter how moral, kind, considerate the unbeliever conducts him/herself - the foundation and worldview is other than Christ. Worse than oil and water....which does not mix.

SO - Paul says to the Corinthians, and God reminds us - "don't be unequally yoked"...it won't work. It will cause pain, heartache, and destruction. Even if it seems not to be so in the beginning...it is inevitable. Two can't walk together unless they are walking in the same direction. Believer's direction could not be more opposite that the unbeliever's....Believer's we ought not even "go there."

"Lord, help us as Your children to see this reality as described by the Apostle Paul. While we are to love others and seek their good - it isn't possible for us to be yoked/partnered/joined with those who are walking in the polar opposite direction...we will likely end up walking their way...not Yours. Speak to our hearts Holy Spirit. Strength us in our inner persons, to hear You and walk Your way. Thanks for loving us God."

Whatever Circumstance

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

No matter what comes my (our) way. Wow. The Apostle Paul and his co-laborers stood "firm in the Lord and in the strength of His might" (Ephesians 6:10)! No matter what. This list of some of the life circumstances and his approach and response, bears repeating:
"In great endurance;
In troubles, hardships and distresses;
In beatings, imprisonments and riots;
In hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;
In purity, understanding, patience and kindness;
In the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;
In truthful speech and in the power of God;
With weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
Through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report;
Genuine, yet regarded as imposters;
Known, yet regarded as unknown;
dying, and yet we live on;
Beaten, and yet not killed;
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;
Poor, yet making many rich;
Having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (vs 4a-10).

These are the types of environments he and his co-laborers found themselves in as a result of preaching and teaching the Gospel to those to whom God had called them! It is clear that Paul didn't look solely at his circumstances as an indication of God's will for him! When Paul said that he "learned to be content in whatever circumstances" (Philippians 4:11), we can see by the above recording, that indeed, Paul learned through his experiences!

He later in this same chapter, states that his heart was opened wide to the Corinthians - to those to whom he was ministering and doubtless, found himself in some of these circumstances as he was ministering to them. If his heart was not opened wide to them, and in the Living Christ - the power of the Holy Spirit - he would not have (been able to) endured these circumstances. In an earlier reading we see that Paul was "compelled by the love of Christ." It had to be so. He has the "right" to ask the Corinthians, "open wide your hearts also." We trust that some did, and some did not, even as we read later on in 2 Corinthians.

So what about you and me? Are we learning to be content in whatever circumstance we are in, as we commend ourselves as ministers of the Gospel? You might be thinking, "I'm not a minister of the Gospel." Actually, you are...perhaps not in the same way as Paul - his life work and breath - but we read earlier in 2 Corinthians 5 that all of us who are saved, are "ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of Christ, having God make His appeal through us, to others, to be reconciled (saved, receiving forgiveness through Christ, becoming new creations in Christ) to God through Christ.

"Lord, thank You for calling us to Yourself and for making us Your ambassadors. I pray that I, and we, would so find ourselves hidden in You, that we step out, regardless of circumstance, and appeal to others to be reconciled to You through Christ, in the power of Your Holy Spirit. Help us Lord to get to the point of learning to be content in whatever circumstance, as we walk in You. Thank You Lord for the High Calling with which You have called us."

Now is the Time

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Why put off until tomorrow, what you can do today? You've heard that expression. Some have turned it the other way around...Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Often this is a light-hearted way to handle procrastination and to encourage ourselves (or others) to "just do it!" Have you wondered where the expression originated? Well, I think it might have been Paul! Although the Apostle Paul's exhortation in these 2 verses of focus in our reading, is not light-hearted. The matter at hand for the Corinthians was a matter of life and death. And in our days for our ways, is today, a matter of life and death for us!

"As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For He says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.'
I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (vs 1,2)! (emphasis mine).

Paul is highlighting, strongly, the reality that there are times and seasons for certain movements of God - and tomorrow really may be too late! Perhaps the Corinthians were waffling, doubting, questioning the experience, witnessing, or hearing of God's grace. Whatever the circumstance, it was cause for Paul to warn those within his hearing. He wanted to assure them that God's grace and favor was real and now. That as they were under God's ministry of Grace, that it was in that moment their salvation was to be received from God!

Tomorrow was not promised to them in their day, and tomorrow is not promised to you and I. Even as you read this message, today is the day of salvation. Today is the moment of receiving God's grace in your situation. Today. Now. Not later. Now.

"Lord, thank You for Your Precious Grace that is for each one of us in this moment. Lord, please move by Your Spirit, in each heart of the ones reading this now. However it is one needs to receive the grace You are extending, let him/her receive You Lord. For salvation. For forgiveness. For pardon. For direction. For patience. For understanding. For seeing. For clarity. For assurance. For ...whatever it is - now is the time. Thank You Lord!"

Saint or Sinner?

Dear Ones,
Since last writing, I have been traveling from Maine to Ohio with stops on the way! Met with some folks in Nashua NH regarding Safe Families for Children and their desire to join the movement - Praise the Lord! Then on to Ashland Ohio where I was privileged to assist in training Pastors and church leaders in the Formational Prayer process...a process that helps folks who are hurting be positioned in the presence of the Healing Christ - the Holy Spirit! It is awesome - a 'front row seat' in seeing the Lord set folks free from false beliefs and lies, results of hurt/wounding they have experienced, which has hindered them in experiencing the fullness of life God has intended for them!....something from which we could all benefit!
In the midst, flu symptoms and bad cold caught me...BUT Praise the Lord, feeling much better today! And so glad, as I have missed writing to you through these little devotional meditations!
May you experience today the fullness of life that God intends for you as His beloved sons and daughters!
Robin

Food for Life:

2 Corinthians 5:16-21
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!...God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might b3ecome the righteousness of God" (vs 17,21)

Paul continues to proclaim the "excellencies of Him who brought us out of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9)!! Recall, this portion of Scripture is focusing on the Treasure Who lives within us and the joy of eternity as the reality in which Believers live instead of the pain, suffering, trials, and difficulties of this earthly life. Otherwise, when we focus first on this earthly life, it is easy to "lose heart" (2 Corinthians 4:1).

Paul declares, in fact, that in Christ we are New Creations! Our identity is the New Creation we are in Christ - not the born sinner that we once were; who lived in our fallen natures with the fallen understanding, fallen desire, and fallen capabilities! Paul declares that the "old has gone, and the new has come!" Genesis 3:16-19 describes the curse of the fall on men and women, you and I - our bent human nature into which we were physically born. BUT GOD. When we are born-again; when we have received the forgiveness of Christ on the Cross and been filled with the Holy Spirit - (Paul declares) we are New Creations! We are no longer bound in our human nature with the curse of sin conceived through Adam and Eve! "Jesus, who knew no sin, BECAME sin for us, so that we would become the righteousness of God!"

Saints, this is SO important! Yes, you are called "saint" as a New Creation in Christ! That means your new nature! (I know you are thinking, "I am no saint!"). The meaning of Saint is 'one who is set apart' for God in Christ (http://www.gotquestions.org/saints-Christian.html)! ; It is not a designation given because of one's behavior. It actually helps us to see ourselves, as New Creations - as those set apart, consecrated to God - by nature! That is your true identity! That is who you are!

As a result, we ask the Lord to help us LIVE out of our new natures, given by Him. We are not cursed, as in the fall. We are blessed. We have the Treasure living within us. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live according to our New Creation natures - saints; not our old natures as sinners!

"Lord, I pray for each one reading this (including the writer!) to grasp the reality of his/her new identity in Christ! What a difference this makes, You make, within us! Your Word says that we are no longer children of wrath, sinners, but "A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession..for we were once not a people who belonged to you, but now we are, we were once not shown mercy, but now we are people shown mercy..."(1 Peter 2:9,10,11). OH GOD, the world, ourselves(others), and the devil tell us all the time that we are lowly, "can't" people who don't have what it takes...those are lies from the pit for those who are in Christ! Lord, help us to see ourselves as You see us, and to live out of our position in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, as we walk in this world, but are not of this world. Thank You Lord!"