Daily Devotion for Lent 2021 - Day 34

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 7

As we have seen Paul's afflictions in the previous chapter, we get the sense that God has helped alleviate them - at least helped to make them bearable.  

How does God accomplish this?  Certainly through various means but here Paul shows that God is actually working through the Corinthians in order to lift Paul's spirits during hardship.  In verse four, Paul writes, "I have great pride in you; I am filled with consolation; I am overjoyed in all our affliction."

When we are trying to be change agents - and certainly, this was a change in the way many people came to know God - there is often great resistance.  For the most part, people are not excited to have you change their way of thinking.  They will often punish the inciter of the change and this often happened to Paul.  This work can be discouraging and this was likely happening to Paul in Macedonia.  Then he hears from Titus about the church at Corinth and his discouragement turns to rejoicing.

For Paul, leaving a new congregation must have been like turning over the keys to the car for the first time to a new teenage driver.  Before, you have always been in the car with them, tamping on imaginary breaks in the passenger seat while you suck in your breath and tell them to "SLOW DOWN!!"  But eventually they get their own license.  They have passed all the tests.  Are they really ready?  Only time will tell but we have to trust them to try.  When they come back from that first drive alone and the car is undamaged, we feel pride and some measure of relief and there may be some joy.  

The faith that lived in Paul has taken root.  It has sprung up in others and they did receive his disciple Titus with hospitality and anticipation just has he had hoped.  When we are vindicated in our hope, this is a cause for celebration and it does lift us up.  And we may think, the present troubles we are enduring are all worth it.

How are the seeds of faith being sown in the generation to come?  Are we trusting others to lead in ways that will provide enough risk for them to either succeed or fail?  As we think back to our best learning experiences, they may have been accompanied with a little fear and trembling.  But as we understand God to be with us, we often find that these are the lessons that stick with us the best.

Prayer for the day:

Living God, we give thanks that you continue to trust human beings and that you have specifically trusted us.  We are grateful for the times we have been able to step up and share your grace with the world.  And for those times, we have stumbled in our sharing, forgive us.  We give thanks that we can learn from our failures as much as from our successes.  May our achievements in the faith give pride and joy to those who led us along the way.  In Christ's name we pray.  Amen.

Photo by Gordon Bell via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.