March 19

Thursday’s reading is heavy duty. Not only is there a lot of it (I think the largest one-day read we have left) but the material may also be difficult o process. Overall, I think this reading project is very good for those of us who need a little discipline in our lives. It seems like God is reordering our priorities.

II Corinthians, the sequel to I Corinthians, is tough to summarize but here are some of the major thoughts covered in the book:

God has comforted us and had compassion on us, we are supposed to share that comfort and compassion with others (ch.1).

The stuff we go through today will not be worth remembering when we receive our eternal reward. (ch. 4)

God has given us the job of bringing people back to him. This is referred to as a “ministry of reconciliation” (ch. 5).

We are representative of Jesus, in our current culture. (ch.5). We are His “Ambassadors”, sent by Him to speak and work on His behalf. Kind of puts a little pressure on us, don’t you think? Not pressure in a bad way, but pressure to be sure that we are living up to the standard that He set.

We are required to be generous. (ch. 8 and 9) If we are generous, we will receive generously. If we are stingy, what we receive will reflect that attitude.

Paul (the author) had a very difficult life, because he was a Christ-follower (chs. 11-12)

Thanks for reading II Corinthians.

Friday’s reading will be two short letters – Galatians and Ephesians. Stick with it, hang in there. But if you get really overloaded, there is grace!