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 24, 2022, 2:29 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verses: 13:2-4
Thought
There is a power in Christ, an authority that men sent by Him have access to. It is the same power to discipline that the Lord has and exercised through all His appointed leaders of the past. The spiritual leader of a community has spiritual power to discipline and correct and defend that community. Most leaders today think they have to rely on man-created methods to control or manipulate their congregation, but God's appointed leaders need none of that.
Sep 23, 2022, 2:30 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verses: 11:26-27
Thought
Paul suffered all kinds of things for the sake of Christ, His Gospel and people who had not yet heard it. Why should I think things should be easy for me, if I really want to follow Christ and care about others? Paul was in danger from his own people and from outsiders. He was in danger from robbers and from wild animals, in cities and in the countryside. Do I want to put Christ on the back burner in order to gain a little peace and prosperity? God forbid.
Sep 22, 2022, 2:31 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verses: 8:12-14
Thought
Giving is not a competition that we should see who can give the most. Nor is it something to go into debt over. But it is simply an expression of the love and care we have for others, based on what we have available to give. Ideally, we live on less than we make and we have an excess available to give to the needs of others. This is a very practical application of loving one another. Neither are we called to make everyone's wishes come true, but to help those who lack basic needs.
Sep 21, 2022, 2:32 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:3
Thought
It is sad that Paul always has to defend himself. The Church has fallen into error and he teaches and corrects them, and still he has to remind them that it is out of love that he corrects them. Why are we all so stubborn and arrogant, that we somehow think we know so much about God and godliness when we barely know anything at all? Why are we so stubborn as to refuse correction even by the one who introduced us to Christ?
Sep 20, 2022, 2:34 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:2-4
Thought
Knowing that he has received a ministry from God, Paul speaks only what God has revealed. He had no need to deceit or deception or to change the Truth of God to be more acceptable to men. He knows full well that salvation depends on the power of God working in the hearts of men, not on his ability to win someone to accept what he's saying. So he doesn't need to distort the Word of God, but simply present what it actually says.
Sep 19, 2022, 2:35 PM
Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:4
Thought
True correction comes from love, and true love corrects those it loves, when they are wrong. Paul says he wrote things that grieved them out of his own grief over them, over their sins. He wrote them because he wanted to visit them in joy, not having to correct them when he arrived. Better to come and see them worshiping the Lord in truth and righteousness. But if he arrived and they had all kinds of problems, then he would have to spend his time rebuking and correcting them, and there would be no joy in that for anyone.
Sep 18, 2022, 2:36 PM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 16 - 2 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verses: 2 Corinthians 1:23-24
Thought
There is great joy in fellowshipping with those who walk in obedience, with those who are teachable. But there is much grief in meeting together with those who resist sound doctrine. When meeting the latter, you see all the problems, and if you love them, you point out the error and direct them towards the truth. But if they are resistant, it becomes a heavy burden to all, to the one who desires to show the way and to those who resist the direction.