Scripture For Today: 2 Corinthians 12:10-19
“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”
2 Corinthians 12:15
In my junior year of high school our football team lost every game. On the way home from an out of town game where we had been beaten badly by our opponents the atmosphere of the bus was marked by a spirit of fun and rowdiness. As the noise and horseplay grew our coach stood up, got our attention and told us that the reason we had so much energy to spend on horse play was that we had not given all we had on the field. He told us that if we had really been concerned about winning that we would have spent all of our energy on the field instead of saving it to be used later. He taught us a lesson that Paul is teaching us Christians today. Paul teaches us to leave it all on the field and keep nothing back in the service of Jesus Christ. Remember, we serve God by serving others if we are to be spent for Him it will be done by spending our lives on others.
Let your life reach it’s highest plane and greatest value by being spent for Christ as you spend the best and most of your life on others for Christ’s glory.
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians was written to give them perspective and comfort after the stern rebuke that was given in his first letter. It was the purpose of Paul’s life concerning these believers that he would do whatever lawful thing was necessary for them to find victory in Jesus by walking in simple obedience to Christ each day. Paul was not seeking some temporal profit, to enhance his resume, or some other gain that he might consume by himself later. He was ministering to them so that they would be Joy filled servants of the most high God in word and in deed. He was investing in their lives for their good and God’s glory, not for some later payoff for himself. “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.” 2 Corinthians 1:24. His commitment to their highest good caused him to “spend and be spent” for them. When his life was over he could say he had poured all he had been given by God out into the lives of others, for others, in Jesus name. He had left it all on the field, nothing was kept in reserve for his own pride or pleasure. He did not receive overwhelming thanks as they did not even realize what he had given to and for them. “though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”
We live in a day of reserve and of self preservation. Success amongst believers is measured most often by the possession of the things and involvement in the norms of this world. Pragmatic thinking has left believers with the idea that there is something wrong with the kind of total commitment to Christianity that the Bible calls for, where Christ is our all and the substance or our lives. We will give much sacrifice and effort to our own happiness right now, to a great education, to athletic or business achievement, or any other endeavor that has the promise of reward in this life, but when it comes to truly spending our lives to serve God by serving others we often hold back much for ourselves. It is time we stopped living our lives and started spending them and being spent by Christ for others. If your life were to be over today, would you be judged by Christ to have spent your life on others and for others as He did, or will it have been preserved for your pleasure and left unspent as the consequence. Let your life reach it’s highest plane and greatest value by being spent for Christ as you spend the best and most of your life on others for Christ’s glory.