devotional post # 2216
2 Corinthians 12:14-15
2Co 12:14 I want you to notice that I am getting ready to come to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your things but you. Because children are not supposed to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
2Co 12:15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, should I be loved less?
not feeling the love
Paul had been criticized by some “super-missionaries” that appear to have taken control of the Corinthian churches. He had been responding to that loss of trust by pointing out that his ministry to the Corinthians has been exactly the same as his ministry elsewhere — except that he had not asked them for money. He was planning a third trip, and he planned to be supported from other sources again. He considered the Corinthian churches as his children, and so he did not want to burden them. He only asked for their gratitude.
Sometimes you invest yourself in a people, and do not feel the gratitude you expect in return. It is those times when you can identify with our gracious God who loved us while we were still in rebellion.
LORD, give us the courage to love, even when that love is not returned.
