Skip to main content

Thursday Devotion: How long are you going to keep that grudge? (2 Corinthians 2:5 - 11)

By

In this second letter to the Corinthians, Paul has made it clear that he will no longer visit them as he had earlier intended to. The reason was that he did not want to further cause a rift in the relationship he had with them by his rebuke in his first letter (2:1-4). However, he still had important pastoral issues to address with the church.

In 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, Paul urged the church leaders to extend grace and forgiveness to a fellow Christian brother. This brother was severely punished and perhaps excommunicated from his community for causing grieve to the church. We aren’t certain of the details but it must have been extremely bad for the church leadership to punish him this way. Now, Paul chose to be an advocate on the brother’s behalf and appealed to the leadership that they would seek reconciliation by forgiving the man. By doing so, they would have obeyed Jesus Christ and restored the man to Christ and the Church.

Forgiveness is an overarching theme that is found in the entire Biblical narrative. In the Gospel narratives, Jesus made it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that whenever we offend others or are offended by them, especially those in the family of the Lord, we must choose to forgive and seek forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-26). He made forgiving and seeking for reconciliation such a crucial part of our act of worship – forgiveness comes before worship.

Learning from the passage, we recognize that at time we can be quite insistent with our punishment of sins and wrongdoings among our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. In our own self-righteousness, we hold “holy grudges” (there is nothing holy about grudges) to punish them. We give them the cold shoulder and even prevent them from receiving fellowship with other believers. At times, we can prolong a discipline for too long in the “name of Christ”, but instead of reconciliation we cause division.

Friends, how long do you intend to keep that grudge? How long do you desire to withhold forgiveness and forfeit your own experience of God’s grace? I would like to implore you to forgive those who have harmed and hurt you. Forgive as you have been forgiven. And if possible, be reconciled to one another and to Jesus Christ. Let us not give Satan a foothold in our lives.

May the grace and peace of the Lord be with you always. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Danger of Spiritual Infancy (Hebrews 5:11 - 6:12)

By
Have you met people who refuse to grow up? There are some adults who prefer to remain as children because they do not want to take on adult responsibilities. Not only is immature behaviour unpleasant to observe or deal with, the consequences are often destructive. In Hebrews 5:11-14, the writer expresses his frustration that some members of the church were refusing to grow into spiritual maturity. They were no longer trying to understand God’s word (v 11). Instead of taking on the responsibility of teaching others as they themselves had been taught, they needed to be taught the basics all over again (v12). Therefore, they were unable to take on “solid food” which is for mature Christians, and they were not able to distinguish good from evil (v14) or to understand teaching about righteousness (v13). Spiritual maturity is a necessary part of our walk with God. Remaining as a spiritual infant means that you are not good at discerning right from wrong and you will have a hard time maintain
Post a Comment
Read more

22 Sep 2020 - Isaiah 54 : GOD’S PROMISE FOR FRUITFULNESS AND BLESSING

By
Daily Devotion Tuesday 22nd September  Isaiah 54 – GOD’S PROMISE FOR FRUITFULNESS AND BLESSING    This scripture is a beautiful promise of encouragement and affirmation to God’s people. If you have served God faithfully, but you feel discouraged, if you feel that your effort thus far has not borne any fruit, if you feel that you have been despised or looked down upon, this promise is for you.    God tells the “barren woman” to sing and shout for joy, because God will give her the desire of her heart and gift her with more children than she can imagine (v1). This is a prophecy for the increase and expansion of the nation of Israel through the birth of many children, and a promise that the city would be rebuilt. The barren woman could also mean a person or a church that is feeling discouraged, unfulfilled or foolish. Perhaps you feel foolish and discouraged for putting your trust in God for so long, but you have not experienced the results that you expected? If you are feeling discourage
Post a Comment
Read more

A prophet prophesies and the church fully obeys (Acts 11:27- 12:4)

By
During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. 12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. When Jewish believers from Cyprus (Europe) and Cyrene (Liby
Post a Comment
Read more