Thursday July 29, 2010   (18th of Av, 5770)

 

"Rewarded by LOVE!"

     2 Corinthians 12:15 (Amplified) But I will most gladly spend [myself] and be utterly spent for your souls. If I love you exceedingly, am I to be loved [by you] the less?

     The Apostle Paul was quite straightforward in his appeal to the Corinthian Believers, explaining that his humanity was of no less importantance than was his spiriutal conviction that they receive the Gospel message without error or compromise. Rather than drawing attention away from the Truth, Paul shares the deepest thoughts of his own heart, that of his LOVE for their souls as opposed to what he could have gained from demanding their affection.

     As with Christ Jesus, having gave of HIS LOVE without regard to HIS own well-being, knowing that any who would choose to Believe and follow HIM, would in the end receive a much Greater Reward for their Obedience. While today, many Believers continue facing stern opposition and ridicule for their uncompromising stand for Truth and Righteousness, it is the LOVE for those whose souls delicately hang in the balance of Eternity, that proves God's Spirit continues to WORK mightily through LOVE.

     Where Paul addressed the question of whether the WORKing of Signs and Miracles by the Power of Holy Spirit proved his Authority as an Apostle, he pressed the issue regarding committment to Christ Jesus above all else. Of more importance than who God has chosen to use as HIS instrument of deliverance, it remains as fact that HIS SOUL desire is for man to choose LIFE through Christ Jesus. Burdens are exchanged for JOY, when someone cries out to God for Mercy, and TRUTH replaces rebellion when HIS Grace floods their hearts with LOVE, stretching far beyond the boundaries and limits of carnal understanding.

    Paul was admonishing the Corinthians  for their distraction from the Kingdom message which he had presented earlier, his dedication uncompromised by their opposition, in knowing LOVE's Greatest Reward is a WORK of God's Spirit in every heart that submits to HIS guidance....

Father, the Good News has broken many hearts, some who have turned away from serving YOU. Not because the WAGES of their labors YOU Promised were short, but because they sought riches rather than relationship. May I be found Obedient to encourage those who labor, that together we may be busy in the fields of harvest. Not my will, O'Lord, but YOUR WILL be done in the earth. May YOU receive all Glory, Honor and Power, for it is in YOUR WORD, that I find the REWARD of YOUR Love for me... Amen and Forever