Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 10 before reading the devotional below.
Paul’s effort to win over the Corinthians continues as he explores his “forceful” writing in contrast with his mild manner in person. It’s interesting how influential those immediately around us can be. From what we can read here, it sounds like Paul is deeply influential and important to the Corinthian church. But when he is away from them they forget his instruction and perceive his letters to be harsh. The other leaders who are pulling them away have a message that is a little easier to take.
It’s easy to gravitate to people who tell you what you want to hear. It’s a lot harder to stick with those people when they need to call you out on something. Paul is the first to admit that he’s not the world’s greatest letter-writer or speaker. But that doesn’t matter when the Holy Spirit is the one doing the work.
Here’s your freedom for today:
When you know God, you don’t need to prove yourself.
Paul is confident of one thing: God has given him good work to do. He preaches with authority because he is confident in who Jesus is. He doesn’t need to worry about whether other people like him. He is focused on the mission. While we certainly don’t need to be obnoxious (as sadly Christians sometimes are), we don’t have to prove ourselves by earthly standards. Paul’s work is either going to be supernaturally accomplished by the Holy Spirit or it isn’t. Those results will speak for themselves.