Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:15
Thought
The Lord has said that it is the humble and contrite, the ones who tremble at His Word, these are the ones He honors and esteems. Here, Paul is saying the same thing: As the one who teaches them, who first brought them the Gospel, who longs for their communion with Christ and His acceptance of them, both Paul and Titus have greater affection for those who are obedient, who receive Paul, his messenger and his message with fear and trembling. God loves the whole world enough to send His Son to die for every individual, but not every individual accepts His offer of peace, cleansing and transformation. So God cannot remove His wrath from them. There are those who accept God's cleansing by His Son, but do not really fear the Lord, honor His sacrifice and submit to His Spirit and instruction to conform their lives to the likeness of Christ. It is likely that these are heaping up greater wrath against themselves than those who reject Christ, because they treat the Lord who sacrificed Himself for them with contempt, not understanding that He suffered to free them from sin and so they should walk in righteousness. They trample the Son of God underfoot. But those who recognize the incredible gift they have been given, are broken and humbled and contrite because of it, who marvel at the incredible, underserved mercy God has given them, and who are eager to submit themselves to any and every precious instruction of God, these are the ones in whom God and His faithful servants take true delight, these are the ones for whom their affection overflows.
Application
It is a simple thing to have the delight and affection of God turned my way: Be humble, contrite and tremble at God's every Word, to do it. If I recognize who God really is and what an incredible thing He has done for me, it is easy to surrender myself to do His will. Whatever He asks, even for everything, it is an easy thing to give, to do. The more precious He and His desires are to me, the more precious I am to Him. The more eager I am to do all God's holy will, the more His affection overflows for me. The more stubborn, uncaring, disobedient toward Him I am, the more I grieve Him, and if I do not repent, the more I risk losing everything, like the servant who did nothing with his master's money. I don't want to take advantage of God and offend Him; I want to honor Him with my obedience and submission, to do only what pleases Him, so that He can take full delight in me.