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 12, 2024, 2:08 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verses: 12:20-21
Thought
Paul fears that there may yet be all these unrighteous behaviors in the Corinthian church. Which means he expects them to have conquered all these sinful behaviors! Things like jealousy, arrogance, slander, anger, strife—all kinds of disunity, all kinds of "me first," all kinds of distrust of one another, and all kinds of immorality—all of this in the church and among believers!
Oct 11, 2024, 2:09 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verses: 10:3-6
Thought
Sometimes the answer to a question is so obvious that I can't see it. Here Paul talks about weapons that destroy strongholds and take captive every thought. He talks about spiritual weapons, not fleshly. Divinely powerful weapons! He's talking about his letters, his teachings and his corrections recorded in these letters.
Oct 10, 2024, 2:11 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, 2:12 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, 2:14 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, 2:15 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, 2:16 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.
Sep 22, 2023, 7:04 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verses: 13:1-4
Thought
Sin should not be so difficult to discern, if every matter can be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. But it requires a clarity of God's Word. If we don't know what God requires or expects, we cannot know if someone has violated that standard, in which case it doesn't matter how many witnesses there are, we can't convict anyone of sin! But Paul is basically stating that if we're clear on what God desires, then it shouldn't be that difficult to determine if someone has sinned (and remained unrepentant).
Sep 21, 2023, 7:05 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verses: 11:23-29
Thought
These are the marks of a true servant of Christ. How can any man think he knows Christ unless he had suffered like this in order to proclaim Christ to those who have yet to hear? How can any man think he is close to Christ unless he has suffered in like manner for the gospel and the lost? Who can compare himself to Paul in terms of service? So who can dare to judge Paul or debate his word? Paul knows Christ in ways I can't imagine, so who am I to sit in judgment on his teachings?
Sep 20, 2023, 7:07 AM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verses: 8:2-4
Thought
The Macedonians understood that supporting the saints in Jerusalem was a huge honor and privilege. So much so that they didn't let their own trials or poverty limit their giving; they gladly gave beyond their ability. They begged Paul for the honor of sharing with the saints in Jerusalem. They were not concerned about the things of this world; they happily gave up their own things in order to meet needs among the saints in Jerusalem.