Note: ALL scripture is taken from the Message version of the Bible.
“I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a little while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.” 2 Corinthians 8-9
Around my close friends, when I have something to say to them of a serious or especially meaningful nature, I typically write it all out in the form of a letter. There’s just something that to me, it makes it more meaningful when I write it all out, because in doing that, I have actual physical proof of care, concern and time spent, of getting my point across. I actually am able to invest in someone without them being right there, by spending time working over a letter that reveals my inner most thoughts and feelings. There’s something about that, it just makes things much easier for me to digest, and I don’t have to see the reactions, whether good or bad. Writing a letter allows me to just sit down, take my time, and really search my heart for the true feelings that I think, and if that feeling is bad, then it is something that I especially have to be careful with. Face-to-face confrontations typically aren’t my way of doing things, unless of course, I’m apologizing or something, an act that is frequently part of my personality, unfortunately. And when I do face-to-face revealings of my innermost thoughts and feelings, it’s always socially awkward, but worth every single drop of awkwardness.
In the First Corinthians, Paul obviously ticked off a lot of people. I mean, in scripture, he said that his last letter “distressed” those people. What could’ve distressed them? I read some in that book, and basically, Paul had gone to Corinth, and spent a lot of time over there investing in the people, who had a reputation for just being unholy. And as he worked there, the people of Corinth started to become more Christ-like and he witnessed a lot of growth. When Paul left, he received news that people were doubting the sincerity of Paul’s faith as well as his authority. His response was to write a letter, basically saying that authority was given to him in Christ, and that he was sent to Corinth for God’s plan. What kind of response do you suppose the people had? Of course they were distressed! I mean, if you receive a letter that gives you a good what-for and puts you in your place where you have wronged someone, you’re apt to just be offended or seriously take into account what the other person or party was saying. Well here, obviously, the people were distressed, because Paul put them in their place, but according to Paul in his second letter, it’s okay, because the Corinthians did the right thing, they took their distress and instead of claiming the distress as a reason to run from God, they ran to God because they were distressed. There have been many times in my life when I’ve seen distress in my life. There have been many times in my life in which I’ve claimed distress as a reason I run to God, or away from God. It shouldn’t take an idiot to see which one should be the appropriate action of either running away or to.
“Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.” 2 Corinthians 2:10
There have been many things in my life that I’ve allowed to get at me and eat away at me. Sometimes, I do have a valid reason for being distressed, and sometimes, it’s just imaginary stresses that get in my way. I’m sure there are times in your life in which you’ve been hurt or upset about something, and it could really be justified or not. Either way, there’s no denying that being upset or distressed is exactly the way you feel. You just feel that, whether or not it’s justified. Paul here, warns against giving into being distressed. I’m sure there are things going on in our lives all the time that could be a major source of stress for us. Such as schoolwork, who doesn’t have a mountain to do? Responsibilities, attempting to keep your room clean, laundry (which is always an adventure for me!), time management, priorities…so many pressures in this life, and we could allow those things to literally control us and take over our lives.
Distress, being upset and stressed out could control our lives, or it could not. It’s really up to us as to whether or not we allow ourselves to be controlled by our stress or not. It sounds quite simple, but it’s really harder than it sounds. When we are burdened down and we’re not sure how to react, we can run quite simply to God and allow him to just move in our lives in an active and passionate way. In fact, in my life, I consider it starting after the most devastating time in my life. When I’ve been through something and I run completely and wholeheartedly to Christ, something just drastically changes within me, and all of a sudden the weight is off. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true! And it’s when we give it all up to God and we don’t try to change things ourselves without God’s help, that’s when our true lives begin. That’s when we experience something powerful and unique, something we couldn’t have done on our own, otherwise.
However, we could harbor it from God. We could keep it from him and just decide to solve our problem our way. I don’t know about you, but whenever I try to fix something, I just end up in a bigger mess than I started with. Which might, of course, be representative of my intelligence and limited capability. It’s all up to us whether we continue to let it overwhelm us or whether we just give it to God and let him use it. But Paul gives us a warning, if we don’t give it to God, we have a lifetime to live full of regrets. I’ve got plenty of regrets. I regret most of last year, which honestly, was a year of spiritual darkness for me. But I needed the darkness and I needed to want to control the reins of my life before I gave it to God, so that I would know the difference. I can see now that I’ve grown so much to become more of who God wants me to be.
“And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.” 2 Corinthians 2:11-13
I didn’t know what the word “goaded” meant, so I looked it up, and it’s like this staff that is used to prod an animal along. So we could replace the word “goaded” with guided. When we choose to let God take control and to give him all of our burdens and the things that stress us, when we ‘break free’ of ourselves and the things that we allow to hold us back, there’s just a change within us. When we choose to be guided by God, and not ourselves in the way we should respond, something new awakens within us. Look at all the results that Paul mentions! Is this not something to be desired? I think it is.
So whatever this week finds to distress you with, and whatever that you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with, I encourage you to give it to God. He knows far more than we ever could, and is looking, actively searching to become a bigger part of our lives. And when we allow him to do that, we gain so much more than we ever could think possible.
“I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a little while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.” 2 Corinthians 8-9
Around my close friends, when I have something to say to them of a serious or especially meaningful nature, I typically write it all out in the form of a letter. There’s just something that to me, it makes it more meaningful when I write it all out, because in doing that, I have actual physical proof of care, concern and time spent, of getting my point across. I actually am able to invest in someone without them being right there, by spending time working over a letter that reveals my inner most thoughts and feelings. There’s something about that, it just makes things much easier for me to digest, and I don’t have to see the reactions, whether good or bad. Writing a letter allows me to just sit down, take my time, and really search my heart for the true feelings that I think, and if that feeling is bad, then it is something that I especially have to be careful with. Face-to-face confrontations typically aren’t my way of doing things, unless of course, I’m apologizing or something, an act that is frequently part of my personality, unfortunately. And when I do face-to-face revealings of my innermost thoughts and feelings, it’s always socially awkward, but worth every single drop of awkwardness.
In the First Corinthians, Paul obviously ticked off a lot of people. I mean, in scripture, he said that his last letter “distressed” those people. What could’ve distressed them? I read some in that book, and basically, Paul had gone to Corinth, and spent a lot of time over there investing in the people, who had a reputation for just being unholy. And as he worked there, the people of Corinth started to become more Christ-like and he witnessed a lot of growth. When Paul left, he received news that people were doubting the sincerity of Paul’s faith as well as his authority. His response was to write a letter, basically saying that authority was given to him in Christ, and that he was sent to Corinth for God’s plan. What kind of response do you suppose the people had? Of course they were distressed! I mean, if you receive a letter that gives you a good what-for and puts you in your place where you have wronged someone, you’re apt to just be offended or seriously take into account what the other person or party was saying. Well here, obviously, the people were distressed, because Paul put them in their place, but according to Paul in his second letter, it’s okay, because the Corinthians did the right thing, they took their distress and instead of claiming the distress as a reason to run from God, they ran to God because they were distressed. There have been many times in my life when I’ve seen distress in my life. There have been many times in my life in which I’ve claimed distress as a reason I run to God, or away from God. It shouldn’t take an idiot to see which one should be the appropriate action of either running away or to.
“Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.” 2 Corinthians 2:10
There have been many things in my life that I’ve allowed to get at me and eat away at me. Sometimes, I do have a valid reason for being distressed, and sometimes, it’s just imaginary stresses that get in my way. I’m sure there are times in your life in which you’ve been hurt or upset about something, and it could really be justified or not. Either way, there’s no denying that being upset or distressed is exactly the way you feel. You just feel that, whether or not it’s justified. Paul here, warns against giving into being distressed. I’m sure there are things going on in our lives all the time that could be a major source of stress for us. Such as schoolwork, who doesn’t have a mountain to do? Responsibilities, attempting to keep your room clean, laundry (which is always an adventure for me!), time management, priorities…so many pressures in this life, and we could allow those things to literally control us and take over our lives.
Distress, being upset and stressed out could control our lives, or it could not. It’s really up to us as to whether or not we allow ourselves to be controlled by our stress or not. It sounds quite simple, but it’s really harder than it sounds. When we are burdened down and we’re not sure how to react, we can run quite simply to God and allow him to just move in our lives in an active and passionate way. In fact, in my life, I consider it starting after the most devastating time in my life. When I’ve been through something and I run completely and wholeheartedly to Christ, something just drastically changes within me, and all of a sudden the weight is off. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true! And it’s when we give it all up to God and we don’t try to change things ourselves without God’s help, that’s when our true lives begin. That’s when we experience something powerful and unique, something we couldn’t have done on our own, otherwise.
However, we could harbor it from God. We could keep it from him and just decide to solve our problem our way. I don’t know about you, but whenever I try to fix something, I just end up in a bigger mess than I started with. Which might, of course, be representative of my intelligence and limited capability. It’s all up to us whether we continue to let it overwhelm us or whether we just give it to God and let him use it. But Paul gives us a warning, if we don’t give it to God, we have a lifetime to live full of regrets. I’ve got plenty of regrets. I regret most of last year, which honestly, was a year of spiritual darkness for me. But I needed the darkness and I needed to want to control the reins of my life before I gave it to God, so that I would know the difference. I can see now that I’ve grown so much to become more of who God wants me to be.
“And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.” 2 Corinthians 2:11-13
I didn’t know what the word “goaded” meant, so I looked it up, and it’s like this staff that is used to prod an animal along. So we could replace the word “goaded” with guided. When we choose to let God take control and to give him all of our burdens and the things that stress us, when we ‘break free’ of ourselves and the things that we allow to hold us back, there’s just a change within us. When we choose to be guided by God, and not ourselves in the way we should respond, something new awakens within us. Look at all the results that Paul mentions! Is this not something to be desired? I think it is.
So whatever this week finds to distress you with, and whatever that you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with, I encourage you to give it to God. He knows far more than we ever could, and is looking, actively searching to become a bigger part of our lives. And when we allow him to do that, we gain so much more than we ever could think possible.
