Friday, October 30, 2009 Devotion

Friday, October 30, 2009

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

¹⁴Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
¹⁷"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
¹⁸"I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

7 ¹Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Quick Notes

This passage usually gets used as a reason to separate ourselves from those we do not approve, but what Paul is saying here has to do with a different kind of boundary. It is a boundary of grace. Grace changes us to be more like Jesus. Grace does not mean we are to act in ways that are contrary to Jesus in order to possibly evangelize a group of people. Unfortunately, more often than not, this is a very thin line and we need to struggle with it. We are being freed from sin by grace in order to be grace to those who are slaves to sin. To make an example: We do not need to do drugs to reach those who have drug problems nor do we need to cheat on our boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband to reach those who are unfaithful.

Quick Questions

How do we reach those that we come in contact with but live lives that seem contrary to Christ?

Quick Prayer

O God, I really struggle sometimes with being a friend and being influenced by their bad decisions. Allow me the courage and strength to share your gospel with no compromise. Amen.