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1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
My Facebook feed is filled with opinions about what has happened in Charlottesville between 2 wicked hate groups. Somehow we are managing to go back in time. We are losing 50 years of progress in this nation and are fast on our way to being right slap dab in the middle of the segregated South once again. And let's be frank, what is happening all around us is not about right and wrong, or black and white. I am sure that any person with a rational mind can agree that what is happening is senseless, that a mob mentality from either side is not a lawful and productive way to settle our differences in a country that was founded upon Godly morals and religious freedom.
But while the world remains in a tizzy over a statue, Iceland touts a near 100% eradication of babies with Down Syndrome. They are a country celebrating the annihilation of babies simply because they are different! Can the world not see the irrationality of protesting a statue representing a war that took place more than 150 years ago, where men, women, & children were enslaved for the color of their skin but they place on the highest pedestal possible, women & countries who murder babies because of an extra chromosome, or because of their gender, or because of their conception, things that, like skin color, are beyond the baby's control?!
It is absolutely maddening to me that this is the world in which my children have to grow up in. Where everything seems to be upside down and the opposite of what it should be. Why are we protesting statues, that regardless of what they stand for, can literally do no more than hurt someone's feelings, because they are statues, when there is actual, deadly, harm being caused every single day in abortion clinics all over the world?
But as maddening as it is to me, I already have my answer as to why this is happening. Our Bible tells us plainly that the little "g" god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe in Christ. The lost of this world can not think for themselves and are simply puppets on Satan's string. And for us believers the result is maddening. Its as though the sky is blue and the extremists on either side of the political spectrum are shouting that it's red on one side and green on the other.
So what can we do about it?
2 Corinthians goes on to say that we have this treasure in earthen vessels...this power of God...Paul is speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost within the Christians. We are but earthen vessels yet we have this treasure, this power within us. So what must we do with it? As God commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, He has shined in our hearts and we must give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Though we are troubled on every side political side, we must not be distressed. Though we are perplexed at the behavior of this world, we cannot be in despair. Though we are persecuted for our conservative, Christian beliefs, and feel cast down, we are not forsaken! We are not destroyed! We must always remember what was done for us at Calvary so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies.
And there is one more important thing that we must keep in the forefront of our minds, Paul says in the 5th verse that we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. We have to take ourselves out of the equation. It doesn't matter what I think I know or how I feel if it isn't biblical. If it doesn't line up with the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, then it has no place in our lives or in our rhetoric, personal, political, or otherwise.
As Paul says, we have been given this ministry because we have received mercy...think about where we would be without this mercy...we would be blinded by the god of this world...we'd be shouting that girls are boys and boys are girls, and women have the right to choose to kill their unborn children, and that suddenly inanimate statues are so offensive we cannot live with them in our state capitols anymore...we'd be shouting that white people are supreme and all others must die, we'd be shouting that the color of a person's skin should dictate whether they live like animals or live like kings, and we'd be shouting it, perversely, in the name of God.
These are the kind of people that live without the mercy, and light, and treasure, and power of the love of Jesus Christ in their lives. They have been blinded so utterly and completely that they cannot see the insanity that their lives have become. And those who are not rooted securely in their faith in Jesus will be seduced by this insanity...just as Jesus speaks about the Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4...
14 The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
We must renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in crafitness (think the news media here), nor handling the word of God deceitfully (think prosperity preaching here, false prophecy, KKK rhetoric)...we must focus on the things Paul speaks of in verse 18...the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
And we have to pray for our country and our President, for the lost of this world, and for Jesus to come quickly for His children.
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