By Your Own Faith You Stand Firm

Meditations on Second Corinthians

April 13, 2023

By Your Own Faith You Stand Firm

I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn’t want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you.

2 Corinthians 2:4 

Read: 2 Corinthians 1:23 - 2:4

Today’s passage continues with the issues Paul raised in yesterday’s reading. The context of the issues the Corinthian church and Paul were experiencing were in the almost complete disconnect between the life in Christ and the prevailing cultural values in Corinth. Paul’s responsibility was to cast a vision for their new life in Christ and to identify where the church needed to make choices to follow Christ rather than cultural norms. This was a painful learning curve for both Paul and the church. (It is generally agreed among theologians that the letter Paul refers to in verse 4 was not preserved.)

As a pastor, I had similar experiences to these Paul was describing. Two of the primary responsibilities of a pastor are to cast a vision for the church and then equip the saints to fulfill that vision. This can be painful work as often the vision and the equipping require change. The changes include doing things in different ways, but more importantly, reaffirming that it is Christ we are following, not the ways of the world.

My Takeaway: The longer I served as a pastor, the more important it was to me to include affirmations of faith in worship services. Societal pressures require constant reaffirming that it is Christ and Christ alone whom we are following.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.