February 5, 2006
I PAUL MYSELF BESEECH
2 Corinthians 10:1-18

   You by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:1). Paul's humility was mistaken for weakness and his bold writing was taken as a bluff. Paul followed the pattern of his Master, "meek and lowly in heart" (Mt. 11:29). Paul had delayed visiting these saints in the hope that given time, his letters would help them awaken to their spiritual needs. Paul, unlike his accusers, did not walk "according to the flesh for neither "the walk" nor the "weapons of our warfare were carnal." The sword of the Spirit was "mighty through God to the destruction of strongholds" of fleshly thoughts and reasonings.
   Moses learned obedience and to trust God on the backside of the desert although he had been trained in all the wisdom of Egypt. Joshua marched and shouted to learn that the battle of Jericho and the victory were the Lord's. Gideon amassed over 30,000 men only to learn that the Lord needed but 300 to defeat the enemy. Paul quoted Isaiah, that God would "destroy the vaunted wisdom of the (so-called) wise" (1 Cor. 1:19). Every thought must be brought into captivity or subjection to the obedience of Christ and His word.
   Samuel learned that "the Lord sees not as men see, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Sam. 1`6:7). God's choice was not men's. Paul's accusers were admonished to "think this again," and recognize that Paul was God's chosen servant. Paul was not trying to impress men, because God had chosen the base, the weak, and the foolish vessels to confound "the mighty things of men." Paul could come with a rod. If need be, he could be as strong in presence as he had been in his writings. He greatly preferred to be meek and gentle.
   Paul had stretched out to reach Corinth and even assumed manual labor for his support. He had not built on the labor of any other man. After leaving Corinth, others had come into his ministry and were now deprecating his message and methods. "The rule God had distributed" to Paul was that churches, once established, should fund the further outreach of the gospel to "regions beyond." He would glory only in the Lord's accomplishments through his labor.   

Ivan L. Burgener