Discerning

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DISCERNING

2 Cor 11:16-21

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

NIV

What do we do with this? It almost sounds like Paul is being a bit sarcastic and this is supposed to be the inspired word of God. How do we deal with it? How do we find how this might apply to us, or be instructive, corrective, or inspiring us in our walk? There had to be men traveling about that Paul accuses of enslaving, exploiting, or taking advantage of the church at Corinth and that they were so easily enticed by them. Once again we could take our cue from them and see those silver-tongued purveyors of lies that have infiltrated the community of faith today as the same types that infected the Corinthian church. Paul calls those types of men fools because they boast about themselves. Those false preachers were in fact slapping the Corinthians in the face. That is how much of an insult to the truth than were. This must be the same today and yet there are many who look to those high-profile smooth-talking boasters with awe, fooling them, buying all their garbage, making them wealthy and powerful and continually being in awe of them. We have to know they are here among us and watch out that they do not take advantage of not just us, but to help our fellow believers from being deceived by them. Sure, they sound good, but that is because they have learned how to sound good so as to draw people to themselves for their own personal gain. If their motives were purely righteous then they would not live in such abundance, but take all that wealth and use it righteously, instead of on their own abundance lifestyle. We have to see them for who they are, boasters, braggers, and fools. At the same time, we have to make sure we are not like that in any way. We cannot boast about anything for we have nothing to boast about. We are lacking in all the skills and talents of those false teachers. We have so little knowledge, yet we know that God, who started a good work in us is faithful and He will bring His work in us to completion. Still, we have to be wise against the schemes of the devil and that is still a work of God as that Spirit manifests His gift of discernment in us. Thus, we can discern the difference between what is truth and what is not, and we can discern the truth about those who would enslave and exploit the church. With the working of the Spirit within, we can know the truth.