Sat. April 26: 2 Cor 4:16 - 5:10

April 26 2014

2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:10

Reading the section before this, it is obvious that the early followers of Jesus have been having a hard time: trial and torture, mockery and murder!  A natural reaction would be to hide, or to run away, to abandon this Way that doesn’t bring happiness or success.  Paul tells the Corinthians why he and others are not giving up.

Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. (The Message 4:16)

While I have not experienced extreme persecution such as they did, certainly there have been times when it has seemed like everything was falling apart - sometimes I felt like the only building left standing in a bombed out city.  All I could see was brokenness, despair, pain, loss. Certainly true when Stewart died. Those feelings are real.  At the same time, God’s grace was unfolding day by day.  His gifts to me included the friendship and support of the St. John’s community.  I KNEW I was being prayed for and loved every day - I did not always feel it, but I knew it.  The challenge is to look for the ways that God is making new life within us every day, even when the life we live on the outside is being stripped away or beaten up.  

Paul reminds us that what God has in store for us is also what he is giving us daily: The Spirit of God whets our appetites by giving us a taste of what’s ahead.  He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less. (5:7)  Jesus also said that the kingdom of heaven was within us; his Spirit, given at baptism, grows in us, drawing us ever closer to himself, growing us more into the image of God.

Things are not always what they seem: I am called to look for God’s hand, God’s Spirit, God at work in me, in spite of or because of the circumstances that surround me.  Seeing that as the biggest reality will enable me, like Paul, to live with such good cheer. 

This reminds me too of the story of Peter walking on the water to meet Jesus: the waters did not calm down or go away, but as long as Peter kept his eyes and his focus on Jesus, he could walk in safety.  I too can choose what to look at, what to see, where to put my focus, how to walk.  

Blessings

Ann Kelland