Light and hope

(Light in a guest room.  

Afternoon sunshine 

this time of year 

makes me hopeful 

for the coming of spring.)

I've been away awhile.  Longer than I realized, apparently.

Funny story:

I wanted to study 2 Corinthians.  This is because I like 2 Corinthians 1, and 2 Corinthians 4 and 5, and 2 Corinthians 12.  I never knew how they all fit together, and I wanted to discover the pattern, the woven-through message, the theme.

So, because I wanted to study 2 Corinthians, I did what any logical person would do, and began by leading a study on 1 Corinthians.

Studying 1 Corinthians wore me out.  It is not an epistle for the faint of heart.  It tackles a host of issues, many of them ferociously controversial: sex, women's roles, speaking in tongues, you name it.  At the heart of it all, this letter tackles the most pervasive and insidious sin of all time: pride.  All our other problems will melt away if we can only set aside our pride and replace it with humble love.  Stop grasping for what you think is due you, Paul exhorts us, and lay aside your so-called rights.  Look to the interests of others.  Love is humble, love is kind.  Let all that you do be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Let all that you do be done in love.  "That's huge," said one of my friends.  "That doesn't leave any loopholes for me."

There's no point in studying if you aren't going to apply and use what you learn.  The Ezra method is to study, then do, and then teach (Ezra 7:10--"For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel").  So there I was, essentially teaching about humility, when I have nowhere near mastered it.

As we finished 1 Corinthians, I was a quivering mass of fallen flesh, pleading for the Holy Spirit to help me with this gargantuan calling to humility that I absolutely cannot succeed at without His help.  Thank goodness He knows I am dust.  He knows that apart from Him I can do nothing.  He promises that nothing is impossible for Him.  All things are, in fact, possible for Him, and I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  Even so, the mountain looks so very steep and high when I stand at the foot of it.  How can I get rid of my selfishness when I live inside myself and feel my own feelings, every single day?

I wanted to take a break.  At the end of 1 Corinthians, I asked my friends, "What do you want to study next?"  I thought maybe a nice book, written by somebody else, with discussion questions all pre-packaged.  My friends said, "Let's do 2 Corinthians!"  Some even said, "Didn't you want to do 2 Corinthians?  Isn't that why we did 1 Corinthians?"

Honestly, I feel frightened and hopeful at the same time.  I'm so lacking, as I stare at the pages of 2 Corinthians in my Bible.  I don't have it together.  I don't have it all figured out.  I do not feel smart or wise or insightful.  The verses I have always loved are still beloved and clear to me, but the verses in between them are still largely murky, and often confusing.

Yet, I am discovering something, a pattern that helps me with the overwhelmedness I felt at the end of 1 Corinthians, as I faced my need for growth in humility.  2 Corinthians is all about hope, hope in the sufficiency  of Christ...

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves

to claim anything as coming from us,

but our sufficiency is from God,

who has made us sufficient

to be ministers of a New Covenant,

not of the letter, but of the Spirit.

For the letter kills,

but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:5-6

But He said to me,

"My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

All our hope rests on God and His promises:

He delivered us from such a deadly peril,

and He will deliver us.

On Him we have set our hope

that He will deliver us again.

2 Corinthians 1:10

It will be okay, because God is sovereign, and God is faithful, and God is good.  

"It will be okay."  

Those are words of comfort, the comfort that comes from hope in a good and loving God who keeps His promises.  

2 Corinthians is also about comfort (see chapter 1, verses 3-7), and I hope to write a bit more about that tomorrow.