2 Corinthians 12:11-13:14

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians
11 You have made me act like a fool—boasting like this.a] You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these “super apostles,” even though I am nothing at all. 12 When I was with you, I certainly gave you proof that I am an apostle. For I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you. 13 The only thing I failed to do, which I do in the other churches, was to become a financial burden to you. Please forgive me for this wrong! 14 Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don’t want what you have—I want you. After all, children don’t provide for their parents. Rather, parents provide for their children. 15 I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me. 16 Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. 17 But how? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you? 18 When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No! For we have the same spirit and walk in each other’s steps, doing things the same way. 19 Perhaps you think we’re saying these things just to defend ourselves. No, we tell you this as Christ’s servants, and with God as our witness. Everything we do, dear friends, is to strengthen you. 20 For I am afraid that when I come I won’t like what I find, and you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior. 21 Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence. And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins. You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.2 Corinthians 13
Paul’s Final Advice
1 This is the third time I am coming to visit you (and as the Scriptures say, “The facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses“b]). 2 I have already warned those who had been sinning when I was there on my second visit. Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before, that next time I will not spare them. 3 I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you. 4 Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power. 5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among youc]; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority. 7 We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come—even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. 8 For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. 9 We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature. 10 I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down. Paul’s Final Greetings 11 Dear brothers and sisters,d] I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet each other with Christian love.e] 13 All of God’s people here send you their greetings. 14 f]May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all
Devotion:
In this scripture paul is addressing the church of corinth and really drives home an important point about spiritual maturity. He mentions that he has been there several times to help start the church and teach the good word. Paul has led the church in the direction they should be going but has found that they are still immature in there faith and likely involved with jealously, anger, slander , gossip, and many more! I think this is so true for many of us, when we are away from church for awhile our sinful nature tends to take over and we start to revert back to the old ways. We start to feel nobody is looking, nobody will know if I just took a quick look at porn, I said just that one curse word, I have that one drink. It becomes so easy when we are not around one another to hold each other accountable. Well there is no doubt it is much easier to do these things when we are alone like corinth was from paul, but the take home point is spiritually maturity. So what is spiritually maturity that paul is talking about? Well I thought about this for almost a half hour and then realized there is not an easy answer because each one of us are different but the simple truth is to love one another, read the bible, spend time in prayer, and realize we are weak and only through God can we overcome our hurts habits and hang ups.

Prayer:
Lord help me go throughout the day and work towards becoming more spiritually mature by realizing my weakness and then giving me the strength to give them completely to you Lord.