The Devotional – 1091 – Foot Steps in Second Corinthians, On Going

The Devotional – 1091 – Foot Steps in Second Corinthians, On Going

Each of us, without exception have a scheduled meeting with GOD. This thought can be placed in the back of your mind, but it cannot be placed out of your mind. And God be praised… He will remind you from time to time that you are on schedule for that meeting. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has assigned this thought in the heart as a “God given task” or more clearly an appointment, one that God made for you, thus at some time in the future you and I will meet with God in eternity. Now if you read this verse without the context surrounding it you may just think “hogwash” so the challenge is to read verses 1 through 15 and especially verse 15. Justice will require an account of the individual wickedness of mankind. This is what is being said in Ecclesiastes 3:15 – “and God requires an account of what is past”.

CHALLENGES & COMMENTS – 2 Corinthians 6:1-18 and 7:1

The epistles of Paul, Peter, John, James and others plead with us to receive the grace of God with purpose and also warn us to not receive it in vain. Can we not understand that if we seek to know God, that in doing so we open the door to His Promises and Challenges? What if you gave a promise to someone and they took no thought of it, how would you handle that?

God says “in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you” (Isa 49:8) and also in our passages this morning, verse 2. Therefore it is not convenient for those of us who are saved to live as one who is not holy. Now, or today is the day of salvation (everyday). God helps us each day to be holy. Ministers seem to be better at this than you and me as it is a prerequisite in order that their ministry is not blamed for being unholy.

The apostle Paul says that they commend (place) themselves and ministries in God’s care, then he gives us a list of the things that are a cause for many ministers to fall away from the grace of God and holiness. A pastor and friend explains that 15,000 pastors turn away from ministry every MONTH, that is 180,000 people per year who once heard the call to be holy, who now have for the most part turned away from faith.

From 2 Cor 6:4-10 the apostle Paul describes the result of being ordained, blameless and holy. This one can expect persecution and stress. But what is so encouraging to me is in the face of all of this he says; “O Corinthians we have spoken openly to you, our heart is open to you. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own personal affections.

Now return (repent or change your mind). One of the major areas of a failure in holiness is our desire to be equally bonded with the ways of unbelievers, this is impossible. What sort of fellowship can you or I have with an unbeliever, certainly we cannot have a righteous relationship, therefore our relationship would be mixed or we would be… less holy, get the picture? What covenant does the Temple of God have with the temple of idols? NONE.

God has given us His Spirit to live in us, thus we are told by ministers that we are a temple of God, the Holy Spirit is “housed” in our soul, mixing with the unbelieving world is to mix righteousness with unrighteousness. For the saint of God this should be NONSENSE, for the world around us it is called RELIGION. Therefore we must be willing to come out from among the unbelieving. Not in the sense of total separation, but in the sense of conforming.