Sep 3 – Isaiah 3, Isaiah 4, Isaiah 5:1-7 2 Corinthians 6:3-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1 Psalm 105:12-22
2 Cor 6:8-10
through honour and dishonour, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
How people see you does not have to define who you are. Paul was treat like an imposter although he was true. People thought he had nothing yet in Christ he had everything.
He didn’t let that those things get to him. Instead he embraced the contradictions. Life isn’t so simple as we’d think. We can be persecuted yet blessed. Sorrowful yet rejoicing. It seems contradictory but that’s how life often is.
When things seem to be going wrong it doesn’t mean we cannot also be in a place of rejoicing, which seems like a contradiction, but if real joy is about more than the circumstances (which it is) then it’s entirely possible.
Even when things are bad we can rejoice. Even when we are poor, we are really rich. It’s a matter of having the bigger perspective.
