May 14, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Telling It Like It Is

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Mighty God, sometimes I forget the thank You: for the simple things, for the good things, for the great things You supply.

Read 2 Corinthians 1:12-22

[12] Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. [13] For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, [14] as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus. [15] Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. [16] I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. [17] Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”? [18] But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” [19] For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us-by me and Silas and Timothy-was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” [20] For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. [21] Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, [22] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“When Paul refers to the indwelling Spirit as a down payment (22b), it highlights the Spirit’s key role in both the already and not yet of our present existence” (Gordon Fee).

Paul wasn’t blowing his own trumpet in order to gratify his ego. He was speaking in good conscience before God (12), whom he freely acknowledged as the source of his enabling. Moreover, he was addressing people who knew all the facts, because they were themselves witnesses to the truthfulness of his testimony.

In not following through with his planned visit to Corinth, he had opened himself up to the accusation of being indecisive and even untrustworthy. The line between being decisive and being inflexible is a very thin one; there is always virtue in thinking over any decision in order to see whether it should stand or be changed. Of the utmost importance is our motivation. What finally clinched it for Paul was his consideration for his friends at Corinth, as we shall see in tomorrow’s reading. Meanwhile, as always, the apostle predicates his actions on his relationship with God. His plans are made, not according to his own self-will but in line with what he believed the Lord had ordered, so as to minister God’s grace to his friends at Corinth. He has been commissioned as an apostle of Jesus Christ, the one Paul describes as the “Yes” and the “Amen” of God (19,20), a title which John reiterates in the Apocalypse (Rev. 3:14). This is what determined not only what Paul did in his ministry but also the way he did it.

What unfathomable privileges are ours in Christ! Kings were normally anointed by some human agency, but it is God himself who anoints us (21) and puts his seal of ownership on us with the Holy Spirit taking residence within us (22). Even more astonishing is that all of this is described as a down payment, a sort of first installment and guarantee that more, much more, is yet to come (22)!

Apply

Whenever you say Amen (Yes!) in your prayers, remember what Paul said: we do it through him and for his glory (20).

Closing prayer

Indwelling Holy Spirit, I release You now in my life. Convict me, fill me, use me, all for Your glory.

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