2 Corinthians 2:14-17

No one likes feelings of inadequacy, but they are something we must learn to handle, as none of us can avoid them permanently. Tragically, though, many people live with a cloud over their head because in their thinking, they never measure up. For some, this may be due to childhood experiences that negatively affected their self-image. For others, the problem stems from a lack of success related to work, relationships, marriage, parenting, or any number of things.

The area Paul deals with in today’s passage is our Christian life. He asks a question that points to a common insecurity: “Who is adequate for these things?” (v. 16). Have you ever avoided serving the Lord in ways that challenge your comfort zone? If so, you’ve probably missed a tremendous opportunity to overcome feelings of inadequacy. He’s promised to lead us “in triumph in Christ,” (v. 14) but unless we believe Him and step out in faith, we’ll never experience the life He has planned for us.

Feeling inadequate is not a sin, but using it as an excuse is. When the Lord challenges you to do something that you feel is beyond your abilities, you have two options. You can focus on Christ and proceed in triumph or focus on yourself and withdraw in defeat.

It’s really a matter of faith. God would never ask you to do something without empowering you to accomplish it. This doesn’t necessarily mean you will do it perfectly, but each step of obedience is a victory. The alternative is to play it safe, but then you’ll miss out on God’s best for your life.

Father Greg Boyle is in the business of erasing the past. A Jesuit priest who is the founder and director of “Homeboy Industries” in East Los Angeles, Father Boyle has put together a team of physicians trained in the laser technology of tattoo removal. The team is part of a program that takes the tattoos of ex-gang members and wipes the slate clean. For many, it is as crucial a service as it is merciful.

Gang-related tattoos prevent many former gang members from getting jobs or advancing in work. For others, the markings critically impinge on mental health or put them in serious danger on the streets. There is no fee or community service required to receive the tattoo removal offered by Homeboy Industries. It is strictly a gift—a gift that is perhaps a modern look at Christ washing the feet of his friends. Currently, there is a waiting list of over a thousand names.

For those involved, the spiritual imagery is often compelling. The seeming permanence of a gang tattoo fosters the attitude that the gang’s claim is also permanent. It is a mark of ownership as much as identity. The emotional consequence is that it seems a part of you that can never be shaken. I suspect some of us have felt like this with past mistakes, actions whose mark we cannot shake off, decisions embedded into our existence like permanent tattoos on bodies longing to forget.

It’s not hard to see how profound the erasing of such marks could be in the life of a former gang member. The life marked by Christ is similarly altered. Like former gang members who have had the marks of a former life removed, so our sins are blotted out by Christ. They are remembered no longer.

To those holding on to the scarred markings of former sin God would say: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Like the unmarked ex-gang members among us, we are made into something new.

One of the curious things about the growing list of people interested in laser tattoo removal is that Father Boyle is straightforward about the procedure. The process of tattoo removal is extremely painful. Patients describe the laser procedure as feeling like hot grease on their skin. And yet the list grows, each name representing a life that longs to be free and is willing to endure the pain to seize it.

Followers of the Christian faith have described God’s work in our lives as the “refiner’s fire.” Removing the impurities we have embedded into our lives is at times quite uncomfortable. But like a child that trusts her mother enough to endure the pain of having a splinter removed or the young man who undergoes the burning process of removing a gang tattoo, we are freed by skillful hands. The Great Physician is sometimes a surgeon. But when we look at God through the refining fires of God’s presence, we know that it was well worth putting our name on the list (whether it was our doing or God’s in the first place). “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” At his table, we are made new.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning   “Ye that love the Lord hate evil.”   Psalm 97:10

Thou hast good reason to “hate evil,” for only consider what harm it has already

wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief sin has brought into thy heart! Sin

blinded thee so that thou couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made

thee deaf so that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin

turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison into the very fountain

of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and made it “deceitful above all things, and

desperately wicked.” Oh, what a creature thou wast when evil had done its utmost

with thee, before divine grace interposed! Thou wast an heir of wrath even as

others; thou didst “run with the multitude to do evil.” Such

were all of us; but Paul reminds us, “but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,

but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our

God.” We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace

its deadly workings. Such mischief did evil do us, that our souls would have

been lost had not omnipotent love interfered to redeem us. Even now it is an

active enemy, ever watching to do us hurt, and to drag us to perdition.

Therefore “hate evil,” O Christians, unless you desire trouble. If you would

strew your path with thorns, and plant nettles in your death-pillow, then

neglect to “hate evil:” but if you would live a happy life, and die a peaceful

death,  then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil, even unto the end. If you

truly love your Saviour, and would honour him, then “hate evil.” We know of no

cure for the love of evil in a Christian like abundant intercourse with the Lord

Jesus. Dwell much with him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with

sin.

“Order my footsteps by thy Word,

And make my heart sincere;

Let sin have no dominion, Lord,

But keep my conscience clear.”

 

Evening   “Be zealous.”   Revelation 3:19

If you would see souls converted, if you would hear the cry that “the kingdoms

of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord;” if you would place crowns

upon the head of the Saviour, and his throne lifted high, then be filled with

zeal. For, under God, the way of the world’s conversion must be by the zeal of

the church. Every grace shall do exploits, but this shall be first; prudence,

knowledge, patience, and courage will follow in their places, but zeal must lead

the van. It is not the extent of your knowledge, though that is useful; it is

not the extent of your talent, though that is not to be despised; it is your

zeal that shall do great exploits. This zeal is the fruit of the Holy

Spirit: it draws its vital force from the continued operations of the Holy

Ghost in the soul. If our inner life dwindles, if our heart beats slowly before

God, we shall not know zeal; but if all be strong and vigorous within, then we

cannot but feel a loving anxiety to see the kingdom of Christ come, and his will

done on earth, even as it is in heaven. A deep sense of gratitude will nourish

Christian zeal. Looking to the hole of the pit whence we were digged, we find

abundant reason why we should spend and be spent for God. And zeal is also

stimulated by the thought of the eternal future. It looks with tearful eyes down

to the flames of hell, and it cannot slumber: it looks up with anxious

gaze to the glories of heaven, and it cannot but bestir itself. It feels that

time is short compared with the work to be done, and therefore it devotes all

that it has to the cause of its Lord. And it is ever strengthened by the

remembrance of Christ’s example. He was clothed with zeal as with a cloak. How

swift the chariot-wheels of duty went with him! He knew no loitering by the way.

Let us prove that we are his disciples by manifesting the same spirit of zeal.

 

. . . Are they Israelites? So am I.  2 Corinthians 11:22

Image BlockedWe have here a personal claim, and one that needs proof. The apostle knew that his claim was indisputable, but there are many people who have no right to the title yet still claim to belong to the Israel of God. If we are confidently declaring, “I am also an Israelite,” let us only say it after we have searched our hearts as in the presence of God. But if we can give proof that we are following Jesus, if we can say from the heart, “I trust Him wholly, trust Him only, trust Him simply, trust Him now, and trust Him ever,” then the position that the saints of God hold also belongs to us.

All their enjoyments are our possessions; we may be the very least in Israel, “least of all saints,” but since the mercies of God belong to the saints as saints, and not as advanced saints or well-taught saints, we may put in our plea and say, “Are they Israelites? So am I. The promises are mine, grace is mine, and glory will be mine.” The claim, rightfully made, is one that will yield untold comfort. When God’s people are rejoicing that they are His, what a happiness to be able to say, “So am I!”

When they speak of being pardoned and justified and accepted in the Beloved, how joyful to respond, “Through the grace of God, so am I.” But this claim not only has its enjoyments and privileges, but also its conditions and duties. We must share with God’s people in cloud as well as in sunshine. When we hear them spoken of with contempt and ridicule for being Christians, we must come boldly forward and say, “So am I.” When we see them working for Christ, giving their time, their talent, their whole heart to Jesus, we must be able to say, “So do I.” Let us then prove our gratitude by our devotion and live as those who, having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the responsibility connected with it.