A Glorious Life

One of the most inspiring passages of Scripture to me is 2 Corinthians 3. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to know that he considered them and the work he did among them as adequate testimony of his faithfulness. He did not consider that he needed letters of commendation from anyone. His work spoke for itself. He was confident in Christ.

You may not feel confident. I know I sometimes do not feel I have confidence through Christ toward God (2 Corinthians 3:4) because of the things I do or say or think. You might think it all well and good for Paul to feel confident, but he was Paul! He was an apostle! “He wasn't like me!!” Spend some time reading Romans 7 if you don’t think Paul suffered through the same kind of turmoil in his everyday life that you and I do. Paul’s confidence did not come from his apostleship in some miraculous or automatic way. He did not consider himself adequate in himself, but his adequacy was “from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

Here is the thought I want you to begin your day with: Your adequacy is from God, too! Paul draws a contrast in this chapter between the old law and the new law; the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ. The old Law of Moses came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (2 Corinthians 3:7). It was full of glory and yet compared to the Christian life, Paul called it a “ministry of death” (2 Corinthians 3:7). And if that old “ministry of death” had all that glory, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit (the Christian life) be filled with glory? How much, indeed!

I want you to notice just how Paul describes the Christian life in the next few verses: For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory (2 Corinthians 3:9-11). How many times does he mention “glory” here?

I know it’s hard to remember passages like this when the going gets rough, but we have to try. There are times when life seems too difficult. The demands of faithful Christianity are too demanding (we think). The temptations of life are too difficult to resist. Or so they seem. In reality, they are not! The devil has done a good job of convincing us otherwise, but we can have confidence. Yes, even a spiritually broken-down old horse like me or you!

Did I say “confidence”? Yes, confidence! Confidence is a difficult commodity to have or to hold on to, I know, but it is available. I can look my enemy straight in the eye and tell him to give it his best shot. I do not have to worry about the devil winning over me. I can have confidence that I will win over him. The writer of the book of Hebrews says we can enter the holy place (the presence of God) with confidence (Hebrews 10:19) and that we should draw near to the throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need...with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). And Paul says that because of the hope we have within us, the hope of eternal life, the hope of salvation and the love of our heavenly Father, we can speak out with boldness (2 Corinthians 3:12), “boldness” and “confidence” being the same.

When you look at the week ahead of you, what do you see? Do you see intimidation? Do you see weakness? Do you see temptation? Do you see an enemy standing before you, ready to torture you and make you give up your faith? Well, take a good look at the glorious life of a Christian, then, look that old devil in the face and spit in his eye! He cannot touch you! He can tie you to a chair, tie your hands behind your back and hit you with everything he’s got and you can still laugh at him because of the glory of your life in Christ!!! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! He loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates