YouVersion Reformation Reading Plan, day 254

II Corinthians 4 §

I think it’s very interesting that Paul feels the need to explicitly deny tampering with God’s word (verse 2). What is it that people were accusing him of?

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. … But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

II Corinthians 4:5, 7

God is perfectly glorified in our weaknesses. Whatever I do well is not from me but from God.

II Corinthians 5 §

Whatever we have in this life can be destroyed, and still we have “a building from God,” a true home, more than we could ever need or want (verse 1). The Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation, of the idea that Christ will return for us — his people.

Being a new creation (verse 17) means we no longer regard one another according to the flesh (verse 16). We have the ministry of reconciliation, because we have been reconciled to God.

II Corinthians 6:1-2 §

…Now is the day of salvation.

II Corinthians 6:2

Nehemiah 8 §

How blessed we are to have the book of the law, and all the rest of scripture, at our every beck and call, in our libraries, on our mobile devices. Ezra, Nehemiah, and the people of Judah returning to Jerusalem from Babylon and Persia felt themselves blessed to hear the book of the law read one time. They worshipped the LORD to hear His word, and they rejoice to understand it (verse 12). How often do I truly worship the LORD when I read his word? How often do I worship my own knowledge and understanding instead? And how often does that understanding cause me to rejoice? Doesn’t that understanding and knowledge come from God, even if I claim it as my own? Rejoice! I have the Spirit with me, giving me His understanding.

Can you imagine the feast of booths? Everyone in Jerusalem shunning their house and living in a makeshift lean-to on the roof, or in the square? Wonderful!