Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Friday, June 13, 2025

QT 6/13/2025 2 Cor 10:1–6, Seeing ourselves as we truly are

2 Corinthians 10:1–6 (ESV) —

1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

 

NOTE: Paul says that he "walks in the flesh," meaning that he, like us, struggles with the flesh, and is not perfect. I'm sure there were many accusations against him. No one is perfect; we all fight battles against our sinful flesh. But struggles against the flesh do not disqualify a person from ministry. Surrender to the flesh, I think, can disqualify someone, and even certain overt sins can disqualify the person from particular ministries. The point is to never give up, but to repent, ask for forgiveness, and ask God for help going forward. Over time, it seems we see more sin in our life, but that is only a realization that our mind is weakened, and the things that we justified in the past are actually selfishness. These are real steps toward righteousness, not phoniness. When we understand how much we sin, we are actually moving toward righteousness.

 

PONDER:

  1. Do I think I am pretty good? If I do, I have a real sin problem that I am not addressing.
  2. Do I see sin in others but not in myself?

 

PRAYER: Lord, this battle seems long and slow with a lot of failures. I pray for the strength to continue. I pray that I would not think of myself higher than I should, but would have a sober account. Give me grace. And then give me mercy for all my failures.

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