2 Corinthians 4 - Serve Well for Jesus’ Sake

I’m thankful God has not given me what I wanted in business.  At one point I wanted to build a conglomerate.  I thought I’d call it Bell Enterprises (to match the Bell Capital that had already been mildly successful) and have a mixture of good cash-flowing businesses.  God had other plans, thank God!

        God wants to get a hold of our hearts.  He cares about our motives.  Psalm 17:14 says, “By the power of your hand, O LORD, destroy those who look to this world for their reward.”  May that not be us.  May we not seek to build up kingdoms for ourselves here on Earth.  The potential is there in each of us to be an utter monster.  I think many men attempt to gain the world and justify it as somehow related to God’s will.  It’s not.  What matters is lives transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, transformed by the Spirit of Christ.  We are blessed by God’s grace and His light shining through us to bring life-changing grace to others.  We serve Jesus.  We serve others for Jesus' sake (v.5).  Never put anything above God.  God first, in everything.

Of course, we will have troubles and suffering in this life.  And we are reminded in this passage to see adversity from the perspective of eternity and God’s grace and promises for us.

We are pressed on every side by troubles.  We are perplexed by the schemes of the devil and his underhanded tactics. We are hunted down by those whose minds are blinded by Satan.  We’ve been knocked down many times by our sins and by those opposed to God.  We are not crushed; by no means is it possible to crush the Spirit of God.  We are not driven to despair because God raised Jesus from the dead and we know how faithful and good Jesus is.  He renews our spirits every day.  God has not abandoned us; we fail him, but He is merciful and treasures us as His prized possession.   We are not destroyed; to the contrary, we get back up against all odds by the power of Messiah shining through us and we keep fighting - serving God.

Jesus lives in us.  And we will live and serve Him on this glorious day.  His Church is and will be victorious.  We need to have God's growth mindset for things are possible in Christ.  We do not cower in imminent defeat, that is not the new way of Jesus Christ.  We never give up for Christ is to receive more and more glory as we await His return.

God promises to raise us with Jesus.  He will present us to himself.  As God’s grace reaches more people there will be great thanksgiving and God will receive more and more glory.  This is glorious, victorious living in Christ.  As Christians, we are humbly confident for we know the power of God’s revival.  We are not doom and gloom artists, woe is me, specialists.  No way.  Change your attitude now for our great power is from God (v. 7).  We know that God patiently waits for more and more men and women to accept his forgiveness and understand the depth of His love for them.

Is God receiving more and more glory through my ministry?  Yours?  Ours?  Is the Church honoring Jesus through unity and humility and accountability?  Let's make it so by what we say and do today.

We know the character of the tree by its fruit.

Advance King Jesus, and, as fragile and weak as we are, please lead us victoriously through these troubles to your good works and to your promised eternal Kindom.  Amen.

Camping with Kari, Waterton National Park, Southern Alberta.