Devotional on 2 Corinthians

2014 – Cape Meares, OR – in the fog

God is the God of Second Chances

2Corinthians 2: Getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church.

This is likely a reference to the situation described in the first letter. Apparently, one of the members of the congregation at Corinth was living in an immoral relationship with his stepmother. Now, Paul has received word that the church took action on this. There has been, first: discipline, and then, second: repentance, and now, forgiveness. Paul tells them that that’s good enough for him. He stands by their handling of things and now counsels them to add a double portion of love for the one who had been involved in the immorality. Otherwise, he cautions, the enemy of their souls will use the situation to work against them, doing more harm than good. It seems to me that the church generally errs on the extremes of issues like this. Sometimes, we’re so open minded that we just go with the flow. People behave in immoral ways and “we just love them anyway” never getting around to pointing out that their behavior will destroy their lives and damn their souls. In other situations, the church is so intent on “telling it like it is” that we drive away the very people for whom Christ died. We think we’re being spiritual, but really we’re just being hateful. In the middle there’s loving people enough to tell them the truth in such a way that they know we love them. God is a God of Second Chances and the church should be a Church of Second Chances.

Take Away: We need the help of the Lord to find the middle ground when dealing with sinners who are loved by Christ.

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