Lesson 506

(Lesson 506)(01-01-13) 2 Corinthians 12:10-21, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps? Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed."

In today's lesson, Paul continues his defense of how he had presented himself, and the gospel of Christ, to the Corinthians. The membership seemed to be upset because Paul had not, himself, come to them, and instead sent Titus, his emissary.

Just as some within the "churches" of today, many of the Corinthians seemed to rely more on the messenger than on the message.

It is our responsibility as followers of Christ, after having heard the gospel and taken on it's blessed salvation, to step out on our own continuing the work before us instead of simply sitting in our comfortable seats waiting for someone else to do the footwork.

Paul said, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Instead of lying down and wallowing in self pity because of our lot, we should, like Paul, take pride in having the privilege of bearing the cross of Jesus Christ.~