JOB 23:1-27:23
2 CORINTHIANS 1:12-2:11
PSALM 41:1-13
PROVERBS 22:5-6
2Corintians 1:12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Just as Job was able to boast of being a righteous man so Paul does the same. But this is not a prideful boast because he recognizes that it is not by worldly wisdom that he and his disciples act with integrity and sincerity but on God's grace. When he writes to them he is not writing in his own hand but seeking God's wisdom and guidance so that he can write what they will understand. He wants them to be able to boast of the great work that God is doing in and through Paul, Silas and Timothy and to also be living a life in God's grace acting also with integrity and godly sincerity so that they might be worthy of the same boast. When I read "we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus" I imagine all of us together praising God and rejoicing in all that we have done on this earth that was in obedience to Him. The longer and more consistently we walk with God and live in His grace the more there will be for us to celebrate.
Psalm 41:11 I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 Because of my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever.
13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
And again, we see that when we walk in His grace obediently He will be pleased with us. In our integrity He will uphold us. When we are set in His presence forever we will praise Him forever and rejoice and celebrate in it all, from everlasting to everlasting. The thought of that is reason enough to seek to know God more and more and live a life that pleases Him. The more we know Him the more we will remember what there is to look forward to in eternity and the more we will live a life that is worthy of the same boast as Paul and Job.
Comments