Monday Reading: 2 Corinthians 11:1-3
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ.
Devotion:
I’m sure that nobody likes people who boast continually, or some even a small amount but there may well be a time in your life when you do have to lift yourself up just to show someone the truth. There is nothing wrong in comparing the truth with lies if it is the lies you are trying to expose, but lifting yourself up for your own sake is nothing but folly. If there is going to be any lifting up then we need to make sure that God gets the glory and not us for we are nothing without Him.
The apostle was faced with the church in Corinth that was picking up on some false teachings and were going with those false teachings. It was then that he had to stand up and compare himself and what he had been doing and saying with those that were lifting themselves and their false gods up. He did not do this because he wanted to lift himself up in any way but to draw attention to the fact that he was a man of God and that he was more knowledgeable than they were in these matters. He did this so that they would see the errors in their judgement and turn around, away from the false teachings and back towards Christ.
We now all have access to bibles through which we too can gain much of the knowledge and wisdom that was part of their lives back then. We have The Holy Spirit to guide us through our bibles, but unless we are willing to read them we are not going to gain much wisdom. In fact, without reading them, we too may well be persuaded away from the truth and be side-tracked by lies just as the church of Corinth was. We need God’s Word to keep us focused on the truth. We need it to remind us of the fact that we are children of God and that we live under the grace of Christ; following any other doctrine is pure folly.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like braggers?
When was the last time you bragged about God?
