When I consider the magnetic effects of gracious giving, four qualities immediately emerge. First, grace is so attractive: Grace individualizes the gift. When you give by grace, you give individually.
Read MoreTag Archives: Second Corinthians
Time to Toughen Up
There are 1,130 frostbitten miles, mountain ranges, blizzards, hungry beasts, and frozen seas between Anchorage and Nome. This awful trek is the scene of the ultimate endurance test known as the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
Read MoreTemporal Rewards for Those Who Serve God
I’ll be candid with you. I have never read anywhere else in the Bible what God revealed to me in 2 Corinthians: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
Read MoreGod’s Promises Regarding His Faithfulness
Someone once counted all the promises in the Bible and came up with an amazing figure of almost 7500. Among that large number are some specific promises servants can claim today.
Read MoreEternal Rewards for Those Who Serve God
While preparing the Twelve for a lifetime of serving others, Christ promised an eternal reward even for holding out a cup of cool water.
Read MoreTwo Truths for Coping with Suffering
I have found great help from two truths God gave me at a time in my life when I was bombarded with a series of unexpected and unfair blows (from my perspective).
Read MorePar for the Servanthood Course
Paul was no criminal. The man was innocent of wrong . . . yet he was misunderstood, mistreated, hunted like a wounded deer, and hated by those who once respected him. In 2 Corinthians 4:9, Paul states we are “struck down.”
Read MoreDealing with Physical and Emotional Pain
It’s hard for me to read Paul’s words without wincing: “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.”
Read MorePaul Was Normal, Like Us
Funny, we seldom think that a great apostle like Paul ever suffered from insomnia, but he did. He couldn’t sleep sometimes because of acute deprivations, like hunger, cold, and exposure.
Read MoreIllustrating the Consequences of Serving God
It is an inescapable fact. If you get serious about being shaped into Christ’s image, you’ll have to learn to cope with the consequences of being a servant of God. Those who serve will suffer.
Read More