THE WAY TO DIVINE DISCERNMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

2 Corinthians 1:23-2:4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are things we want to do but then are things we want to do but shouldn’t do.

How do we know the difference between the two?

Sometimes it comes down to divine discernment.

There used to be a cartoon on television where a character came to a decision making crossroads. They wanted to do something but had this feeling they shouldn’t. At that moment of consideration, a little white angel appeared out of nowhere on the character’s shoulder saying something like this:

“Now, you know that you shouldn’t do this because it isn’t right.”

And then just as suddenly as the angel appeared, a little red devil appeared on the opposite shoulder saying:

“Do it! Do it! You know you want to do it!”

You know, as funny as that was, it was closer to the truth than we may want to admit. For as much as the Lord is trying to get us to go in one direction, Satan is always trying to move us the opposite way. In the end translation, we simply have to listen to and follow the Lord’s guidance for He and He alone brings us divine discernment. It’s the only way we can know our actions are proper and pleasing in His sight.

As we have seen earlier in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul wanted to return to Corinth. It was his desire to do so and he would have done it if left to his own devices. But Paul also was well conditions through his ministry work to divorce his own wants and exchange them for the Lord’s. He knew that the Lord has never led him wrong and never would as long as he placed his trust in Him.

So as much as Paul wanted to go back to Corinth, he chose not to. He felt the visit would be too painful after his prior visit where there was a great disturbance within the Corinthian church, one that brought Paul offense as his authority as an apostle was brought into question. Using divine discernment, he chose to not allow those who should have made him rejoice bring him distress instead.

Paul made it clear to the Corinthians that he held a deep love for them and this was all the more reason why he felt it better to stay away. He wanted the best for them and felt that visiting the Corinthians wouldn’t provide that. And so with great anguish of heart, Paul chose to stay away with God as his witness but even more so his guide.

As we ponder the things we should do in life, we need to follow Paul’s lead. For the ways we think are best are not always the best ways nor the ways the Lord want us to go. We should always be consulting the Lord and then proceeding as He wants for this is the only way to divine discernment.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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SEEING JESUS IN MEMORIAL DAY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It’s not a day of celebration but rather one of solemn remembrance of the depth of selfless sacrifice that men and women have displayed while fighting for their nation and dying while doing so.

For the ages, service members have surrendered their freedoms to preserve those of others. It’s estimated that one percent of the United States population willingly steps forward to support and defend the other ninety-nine and I am proud to be a part of the one percent club.

During my time of service, I remember deploying onboard an amphibious assault ship in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We left Norfolk, Virginia, and went south off the coast of North Carolina to pick up Marines and equipment. We then sailed to the Persian Gulf where the Marines went ashore to fight. When our mission ended, we went back to retrieve our Marine comrades but all didn’t return. We lost 26 in the fighting and I’ll never forget the memorial service we had for them on the way home. It was one of the more gut-wrenching experiences in my nearly 29 years of service for while the rest of the ship, its crew, and the Marines along for the ride were returning home to a wonderful homecoming, the return was less than joyous for the families of those who didn’t come back.

This sadness and sorrow in losing a loved one that deployed overseas and never returned repeats itself over and over again during the course of any one year. We just don’t hear about it. This is why remembering and respecting those who go into our enemies’ backyard to keep them from coming into our front yard needs to be a continuous observance. We simply can’t afford to forget.

Now, as I consider this matter of being willing to lay down life selflessly for the good of others, I can’t help but see Jesus. He said this in John’s Gospel:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

Just as service members enlist and go into harm’s way out of love for their country, the nation’s people being their “friends”, so too did Jesus journey to the cross at the end of His life and surrender everything so the penalty of sin might be vanquished for those who placed their belief in Him. Jesus died for all and He saw (and still sees) everyone as a potential friend, even if they hated (pr hate) Him. It’s the purest, deepest kind of love, an agape love that leads a person to lay down their life for another.

Memorial Day and Jesus. Both linked by the same form of love, the greatest love that leads to a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, an exchange of one’s life to preserve the lives of others.

Today and every day, let us never forget the depth of love shown by our service men and women who charge into danger to preserve our liberties, a reflection of the love Jesus showed to ensure all people might be saved.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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HOW TO STAND FIRM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I don’t know about you but these past few years have been rough. Really rough.

Although I have had my personal times of walking through the valley, I can’t remember too many times in my life when we, as a collective nature, have experienced great hardship together.

First, we had the advent of massive division across our country, politically and racially.

Then, we ended up dealing with a massive pandemic the likes of which had not happened in my more than sixty years of living. This further served to isolate us from one another as we sought to avoid infection and sickness.

As we seemed to be seeing some daylight, emerging from the dark times of the pandemic, we end up with Russia deciding to invade Ukraine in what was an unprovoked and undeserved attack on a sovereign nation. It put the world on edge, especially NATO nations in Europe that bordered on Ukraine.

This invasion caused ripple effects across the world as gas prices soared in our nation and supply chains were disrupted, triggering shortages of vital items, and escalating food costs that are still rising. People who were just meeting ends meet before this were placed in a position of financial extremis and there isn’t any sign things are going to get better soon.

All this leaves us wondering, what’s next? Our confidence is shaken as we find our foundations shaken, leaving us on unstable ground.

As we turn to our scriptures today, we find Paul writing words to the church in Corinth who were dealing with their own internal and external challenges. His words not only served to bring them hope in their circumstances back in first century A.D. but they also resonate with believers today who are facing challenges of their own. Here’s what Paul wrote:

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

How do you stand firm when the world is putting you on shaky ground?

You keep your faith in God who will help you “stand firm in Christ”, the Christ through which you can do all things via His strength (Philippians 4:13).

Paul gives us three reasons why we should and can stand firm in God.

First, God has anointed us.

The word “anoint” actually is derived from the Greek word, chriō, which means to consecrate or set apart. Therefore, you can think of the word “anoint” in this sense as God making us holy as He is holy and in doing so, setting us apart from the world. And if God has shared His holiness with us and set us apart, then we have His special presence and power with us. This should carry with it the assurance and confidence to stand firm because in having the Lord with us and for us, we have the most potent ally possible, no matter what life brings.

Second, Paul reminds us that God has put His seal of ownership upon us. He is our Maker and our Master. We belong to Him and Him alone.

This puts us in a special place, children of a Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us deeply. And like any good parent, God watches over us and provides for what we need in any and every life circumstance. This is an assurance that helps us stand form in the Lord.

Finally, Paul tells us that God has “put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come”.

What does the deposit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts guarantee?

Eternal life, of course, the blessed assurance of the life to come, the life free from all the afflictions of this world.

I don’t know about you but this promise of everlasting life given to me by God through His Son Jesus is what allows me to stand firm the most. I can get through anything in life, whether it be division or a pandemic or armed conflict between nations or adverse changes to the economy, all because I know my future and who has guaranteed it to be the best life ever.

Yes, life is very hard, so much so sometimes that we wonder if we can get through it. But that’s why we need to blessing and power of God’s word, a word that never leaves us void, a word that brings us direction, comfort, hope, and peace, anytime we read it.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His word.

Thanks be to God for the promises in His word that He always keeps.

And thanks be to God for helping us stand firm when the storms of life rage around us. He is our sure foundation, now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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A RESOUNDING "YES"!

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:15-20

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Is there any person who can give you assurances you can always trust and be sure of?

It’s a question we should ponder as we live this thing called life.

I know for me, I have yet to find someone so absolutely dependable in the things they say that I can always rely on them following through with their promises and giving me perfectly trustworthy information.

This is why the scriptures for today are so critically important for us to know and understand for within them we learn there is only one source of absolute truth, only One person who keeps every promise without flaw. Look again at these words from the Apostle Paul:

Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.  2 Corinthians 1:15-20

The world may flip flop in the way it handles its promises. Yes may actually be no. No may actually mean yes. Paul wanted to visit Corinth twice but he didn’t want this based on his own wishes. The only way he knew he could promise to come back to Corinth with complete certainty is if the Lord wanted him to. If it’s the Lord’s will, then His way will be done. He will make sure it happens.

If the Lord makes a promise, He never fails to keep it. His promises of salvation (and the scriptures assure us all other promises) are “Yes” in Christ Jesus. Those in Christ Jesus will be saved. The answer to the question, “Will I really gain eternal life?”, is always a resounding “Yes”! This is so much of a fact that the entire congregation of Christian believers in the world can say “Amen” together which simply means the entire Christian church can stand in agreement. And indeed, if the church has any chance of being united as the Lord expects, that unity needs to be simply through a shared belief and trust in Jesus Christ.

Need a sure “Yes” to the answer of whether you will live on forever when Jesus returns?

Place your hope and trust in Him as Savior and the answer to the question, “Am I saved?”, will be a resounding “Yes!” all because of Christ Jesus.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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