I was at the hospital today with my mother and I was reading through 2 Corinthians when I found the most amazing passage ever! I think it is so awesome!
We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonment and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." 2 Corinthians 6:3-10
I wanted to memorize this verse so I wrote it down in my journal and I was super excited just to think about all of these things that Paul is talking about.
"We put no stumbling block in anyone's path so that our ministry will not be discredited" This verse really hits home for me because I am super sensitive to the way I conduct myself so that I don't stumble non-believers. Obviously there are many times that I fail in this manner and stumble people on the way that I conduct myself but I really do think it is so important not to act in a way that stumbles not only non-believers but other Christians. I remember Adam Poole telling our class that his father was stumbled from coming to the Lord for so long because of the conduct of Christians that he had interacted with. When I heard that it saddened my heart because I realized just how important our actions are in showing that we are walking with God and not simply claiming to be Christians while still living wordly lives.
We are to be set apart! And I like that Paul says, they put no stumbling block in anyone's path so that their ministry wont be discredited. Discredited means to injure the reputation of, defame, to show to be undeserving of trust or belief, destroy confidence in. That's so intense! Wouldn't that be so sad if the way that we conducted ourselves caused someone to loose confidence in a transformed life in Christ.
"Rather, as servants of God we should commend ourselves in every way" Instead of putting up stumbling blocks with our conduct Paul says that we should commend ourselves in every way. The word commend means to present, mention, or praise as worthy of confidence. So instead of being stumbling blocks that cause people to distrust the ministry we need to live lives that show that it is worthy of confidence!
Then Paul starts to list off ways that we should present that our ministry is worthy of confidence. Really just think about what each one means or what it looks like:
"in great endurance;" - We show ourselves commendable when we have great endurance.
"in troubles, hardships and distresses;" - I think it's cool that right after great endurance Paul talks about showing ourselves commendable in troubles, hardships and distresses. How we handle the hard things in life is very important, and I think that great endurance is one way that we can show ourselves commendable through the tough seasons in life. James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
"in beatings, imprisonments and riots;" - In beatings and imprisonments and riots we're supposed to show ourselves commendable? I haven't suffered through any physical persecution in the time I've been a Christian but I think that it would be extremely hard to remain commendable during beatings and imprisonments and riots. Something that has always struck me in the book of Acts is Acts 5:40-41 "...They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name." That's so powerful because they were able to rejoice even after being flogged! Man, how that glorifies God when we can be persecuted and rejoice!
"in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;" - This verse hits home because we show ourselves commendable by working hard! We aren't called to mooch off of people or to be lazy and slack off, we're called to be hard workers. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." And there are also many proverbs that speak about being a diligent hard worker and not slothful or lazy.
"in purity, understanding, patience and kindness;" - I love how Paul changes from the more negative aspects of the Christian life, like the fact that we'll go through trials and persecutions, and turns to the more positive aspects. We need to be pure, understanding, patient and kind. This reminds me of the attributes of love, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). And these four ways that we're supposed to commend ourselves also remind me of Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."
"in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;" - I think this could be my favorite part of this passage because it's seems so plain that the way to be commendable is by walking in the Spirit! In our own flesh and our own self-will we cannot accomplish living a life that is characterized by these things it is only through a life lived walking in the Spirit. And then I like how it goes on to say that it's also in sincere love. Not just love because love can definitely be fake but in true, genuine, sincere love!
"in truthful speech and in the power of God;" - Don't lie. We all know that but it's easy to forget or just ignore sometimes, however God calls us to be honest people. In order to not stumble people we need to commend ourselves in every way including truthful speech. And then in the power of God! This is another awesome portion of this scripture because it is a fact that without the power of God we cannot walk out a godly life. It's all in God's power that He gives to us to walk in this way! That's so awesome! "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:3-4).
"with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;" - I like this because the Christian life is a battle and to know that we are using weapons of righteousness and have them in both hands that shows that we are prepared for the battle. It reminds me of Ephesians 6:11-17 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces if evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
"through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report" - No matter what the situation be it to our glory or dishonor we are supposed to conduct ourselves in proper manner that shows that what we believe in is worthy of confidence, no matter the circumstance.
"genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown;" - To regard means to look upon or think of with a particular feeling. In this that means that our conduct is genuine but people look at it us being impostors, like we aren't genuine. And the same with being known you people seeing us as unknown. I feel like I can relate to this section because of different things that I've experienced but even when we are being genuine and others view us as impostors we are still supposed to maintain commendable conduct.
"dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet we are not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;" - I love that it says we are sorrowful but we're always rejoicing. Even though we do have sorrow and pain we also have so much hope in future glory and so though we mourn we can still rejoice. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." This is our hope, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5).
"poor, yet making many rich;" - I absolutely love how this part says that we're poor but we are making many rich! It's not material, worldly riches that we're giving to make people rich but it's the riches that come from God! The great inheritance that we have through Christ! That's just so awesome! I love it!!
"having nothing, and yet possessing everything." - And I love this part that says we have nothing but we possess everything. This is so true! Though it seems like in this world we might have nothing we really do have everything because we have God and He is all we really need. He is everything!
