Daily Devotional for Wednesday, November 11
Paul’s Service
2 Corinthians 11:5-12
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light,” 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14.
I spend some time on social media, and one thing I see often is that people have very poor argumentative skills. People repeat things over and over, type in all caps, and use punctuation such as exclamation points. They repost long, declarative statements about some position or another and never bother to provide any documentation of the information’s source. They post things written by some supposed expert as if their word alone is proof. They post insulting things about those who disagree, as though that proves their point of view. What I do not see is a lot of reasoned and considered arguments.
If you read our entire devotional passage, it seems that Paul is quite concerned. False teaching had become a problem in the Corinthian church, and Paul was writing to issue instructions and stamp it out. Some might read that and think Paul was bragging on himself somewhat as he established his credentials to speak on the matter at hand, but that was really not the case at all. Paul was just establishing his credentials and authority to speak against the false teachings. Paul was actually a very humble person because he understood that his source was Jesus and not himself.
You, too, can speak out against errors and false teachings. And you can do it and still be full of humbleness and love. You can do it because you have an infallible source of authority: God’s Word, the Bible. I do suggest you tread carefully because people have a tendency to confuse their opinion with God’s instructions. But if you have studied and prayed, you can speak with confidence. The only question is, are you willing to speak?
Just a Thought
You can speak with confidence about things from God’s Word and never need to be ashamed about it.
Wally Fry