Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand—just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.
(ESV)
—2 Corinthians 1:7-14
by: Ashea West.
At times we are afraid to share our struggles because it might make us look weak. Paul, though, was glad to share with the brethren all of his struggles because he knew he was not relying on his own strength. We all need to take a lesson from this passage. Christianity is not the place to try and show how strong you are but to show how strong your God is. We should boast about what God has done and not point to ourselves by saying how smart, talented, rich, or independent we are. Let us share our struggles, so that when we overcome, we can point to God because we are certain He is the One who delivers us.
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