This is our first study in our verse-by-verse journey through 2nd Corinthains.
Have you ever been discouraged by the constant trials?
In this letter, Paul pours his heart out to the saints in Corinth and teaches them that the sufferings and tribulations we so often experience are used by God to demonstrate His comfort to us that we might then be a comfort to others, and that we might come to the end of our own self-reliance and trust solely in His grace.
Paul speaks of something many of us know too well, that of despairing of life, of coming to the end of our rope and not wanting to keep on fighting. Sometimes life can just seem too hard. But it when we have nothing left that we discover God is there waiting for us, to wrap His arms around us.
Oswald Chambers said:
“No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral” — the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.
Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been”.
May you be blessed and encouraged by this study.
