Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Sep 19, 2023, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:1
Thought
Since God promises to live among us and be our God, to adopt us as His own people, to be our father, Paul says our only right response is to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit. We should perfect holiness in ourselves out of reverence for God. God says to come out from among the unclean things so that He can receive us. If we understand and appreciate the privilege God is offering us here, then we need to make it our diligent purpose to perfect holiness in ourselves. We shouldn't dabble in it, but make it our highest priority.
Sep 18, 2023, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:10-11
Thought
The fact that we will all stand in judgment before Jesus is sobering to Paul, and drives him to seek to persuade men to believe in Jesus. He doesn't think that he's fine and safe because he himself believed the gospel, but he knows what it means to fear the Lord. He doesn't want any reprimand, even if he's guaranteed eternity with Christ. He's not going to kick back and coast into heaven.
Sep 17, 2023, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:4
Thought
Writing the letters to the Corinthians was not easy for Paul. With tears and anguish and distress, he wrote to them, compelled not by bitterness or anger, but by love. In fact, it was the depth of his love for them that compelled him to write what he did. There was no joy in it for him, because he knew there would be no joy in it for them. His only hope was that they might actually repent rather than remain hurt and bitter.
Sep 16, 2023, 7:07 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 16 - 2 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Corinthians 16:15-16
Thought
Paul notes that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Then he reminds the Corinthians to submit to such men and to any who join in the work and labor at it. Those who devote themselves to the service of the saints are worthy of honor and obedience, because they are seeking the good of the brothers by seeking to know and honor the Lord more than most men.
Sep 15, 2023, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 14-15
Meditation Verse: 15:32
Thought
The hope of the gospel, certainly the most foundational, is the rising from the dead to live again, to live forever with God. If there is no resurrection, then the gospel is useless and without meaningful hope. If there is nothing beyond this life, then there is no point in living except to get as much interest out of our days here, then to wink out of existence. There is nothing to keep me from doing evil, especially if other men do nothing about it.
Sep 14, 2023, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verses: 12:1-2
Thought
This should be a sobering statement, that the Corinthians and so many people across the globe and through time, we're led astray and influenced by mute idols. In this context, Paul is saying that there weren't even the use of miraculous gifts, and still they were led astray! They were ignorant, and we should not be. We should understand the truth about God and about false gods, and we shouldn't fall prey to such powerless things.
Sep 13, 2023, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verses: 10:1-5
Thought
We are not safe in Christ Jesus because we participated in certain ceremonies of His, any more than the Israelites were because they followed Moses through the water and ate the same spiritual food and water. We're not safe because we were baptized into Christ or eat the bread and juice of communion. We only have communion with Christ if we walk in obedience to His commands. If we ignore His commands then our baptism is meaningless, as is our participation in communion.
Sep 12, 2023, 7:13 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verse: 9:24
Thought
These instructions and examples are not just for us to know what a great guy Paul is. He's telling us these things so that we too would follow in his steps, that we would live for the same purposes and with the same sacrifice for the sake of others. Paul tells us to run in such a way as to win the prize, as if there's only one who will win. He's challenging all of us to give up our rights, our wants, our wishes for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of those who do not yet believe.
Sep 11, 2023, 7:14 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verses: 6:2-4
Thought
God intends to put believers in charge of other men and in charge of angels, such that they judge them. If we are supposed to judge men and angels, we should be able to figure out what is right and wrong even now, and so be able to judge disputes between brothers even today. God's word must be sufficiently understandable that we can grasp it sufficiently to judge matters in this life as well as the next.
Sep 10, 2023, 7:16 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:11-13
Thought
Paul expects a degree of perfection from believers. They are not supposed to be guilty of or acting out what is clearly sinful. Where in Scripture does it say it is sin to have your father's wife? All the way back in Leviticus! The Law still is a moral guide to believers today. And it is up to us to judge one another. We are to judge other believers because we can't be letting each other get away with sin! And if there is no repentance when confronted, then expulsion from fellowship is the only remedy.
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