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
Oct 10, 2024, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verses: 9:13-14
Thought
Receiving gifts from others should result in praise to God for the true faith of the giver and their generosity. It should also result in prayer and longing for the giver because of the amazing grace of God displayed in them by their gift. If given once or twice, if given a truly remarkable and unexpected gift, this kind of gratitude is pretty natural.
Oct 9, 2024, 7:12 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 6:3
Thought
This is a tough statement to process. Paul determines to give no cause for offense in anything. How does he mean that? Certainly not in his teachings, because the Gospel has offended many Jews, and his other teachings have offended many others. Obviously, the whole situation with the sinning man hit everyone hard, and this letter, at least up to this point, has a different feel from the first letter.
Oct 8, 2024, 7:14 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verse: 4:2
Thought
Anything that brings shame, instead of hiding it, covering it, continuing in it but claiming freedom, deceiving people about it, Paul renounced it. If he could not practice it publicly because it was shameful, he did away with it. He didn't try to convince everyone that it was honorable or a source of pride; he turned away from it and ceased to practice it.
Oct 7, 2024, 7:15 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 2-3
Meditation Verses: 2:6-8
Thought
This is likely in reference to the man in 1 Corinthians 5, but whether him or some other brother, the point remains. Church discipline is not for the purpose of eternal rejection, but to impress on the unrepentant their need for repentance. So there should be no hatred of the sinner, but only love, a love that desperately seeks their repentance and desires restoration. When the sinner repents, we should have no difficulty in forgiving him and restoring him to fellowship.
Oct 6, 2024, 7:16 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 16 - 2 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verse: 2 Corinthians 1:7
Thought
Those whom God has chosen, He will also preserve in Christ. Those whom God has chosen, when they suffer for Christ, they will also receive from God His comfort, so that they will not be discouraged or embittered against God for what they suffer. Those whom God has chosen will have also chosen Him to such degree that no matter what trial comes their way, they will remain faithful to Jesus.
Oct 5, 2024, 11:04 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 14-15
Meditation Verses: 14:36-38
Thought
This is so true, not just in regard to Paul's teaching on the role of women in the church, but in every matter about which he taught. The Word of God did not originate with me or my generation, so what business do we have to change anything written in it? What business do we have to argue with anything recorded in the Scriptures?
Oct 4, 2024, 11:06 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verse: 13:8
Thought
Love, agape love in this passage, is not a spiritual gift, but a spiritual discipline. It is learning and choosing to care for the needs, especially the spiritual needs, of others. Spiritual gifts can certainly be a part of helping others, but Paul says here that when true agape love comes, the spiritual gifts will take a back seat and even be laid aside. Spiritual gifts are exciting, but they can be used more to exalt self rather than seek the good of others.
Oct 3, 2024, 11:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verse: 11:16
Thought
This issue of men and women and their differences in life and specifically in the church has been a source of contention from the beginning of the Church. For Paul to mention that if anyone wants to be contentious about it means he has received blowback before, when talking or writing about it. Recent generations were not the first to debate it or reject it. But Paul laid this teaching as a foundation of the Church.
Oct 2, 2024, 11:09 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verses: 9:25-27
Thought
There are actually some who preach the Gospel but do not obey it or the Lord they preach about. They are called hypocrites. They may preach and teach correct things about the Lord and His Gospel and how He wants His people to live, but they themselves do not abide by their own instruction. They disqualify themselves from receiving the prize they encourage others to pursue.
Oct 1, 2024, 11:10 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:22
Thought
"He who was called while free, is Christ's slave." Several times in these two chapters Paul teaches this concept in different ways. He who belongs to Christ should no longer live for his own agenda, but be willing to submit himself to other, wiser believers to settle disputes. Indeed, we should prefer to be wronged rather than fight with another brother. We are not our own, but bought at a price and we should live to please the Lord, and give up the things of this world and life in order to please Him.
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