{"id":10080,"date":"2022-03-07T05:37:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T11:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-2-corinthians-10\/"},"modified":"2022-02-24T10:48:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:48:49","slug":"devotional-on-2-corinthians-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-2-corinthians-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on 2 Corinthians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2014 – Along Oregon Hwy 101 – north of Florence – Heceta Head Lighthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The voice of authority <\/p>\n

2Corinthians 10: I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s first letter was rather stern and was, in general, well received. Most of the church at Corinth took it to heart and responded positively to it. However, we see here that not everyone received it in the spirit in which it was written. Some complain that Paul should mind his own business and that \u201cthem and God\u201d will work things out. Others point out that there are leaders aside from Paul in their number who hold different opinions from him. Yet others say that Paul writes tough, but in person he\u2019s not very impressive and his letters shouldn\u2019t be treated as though they\u2019re the final word on anything. The Apostle takes all this on in this passage. He wants them to understand that he\u2019s being as patient with those who oppose him as possible, but that his words aren\u2019t his own, but carry with them the very authority of Christ. He hasn\u2019t tried to manipulate them and he hasn\u2019t avoided the more sticky points. He knows that there\u2019s opposition both outside and inside the church. After all, his teachings are radical and run counter to the world\u2019s way of doing things. He\u2019s not just putting band aids on severe wounds. Rather, he\u2019s in a battle to the death with an ungodly culture that still has a foothold in the Church. All this he does under the direct authority of Christ. If they want to hear from someone with authority, he\u2019s it! Paul\u2019s self-assurance here is breathtaking. In spite of his obvious weaknesses he pulls no punches in claiming authority in this situation. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a case to be made for humility and for letting people work things out between them and God. Here, though, I\u2019m reminded that sometimes God chooses to use unlikely people to state his message. This, I think, is different than a preacher taking a text and, using its authority, delivering a sermon. This kind of prophetic voice is seldom heard, but when it happens people tend to recognize it. Beyond recognizing it, we\u2019d better pay attention to it.<\/p>\n

Take Away: It\u2019s the Lord who gives authority to his message.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The voice of authority 2Corinthians 10: I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. Paul\u2019s first letter was rather stern and was, in general, well received. Most of the church at Corinth took it to heart and responded positively to it. However, we see here that not everyone received it in the spirit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1476,1428],"tags":[67,1316,772,850],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10080"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16106,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080\/revisions\/16106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}