And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,  says the Lord Almighty. 2 Cor. 6:18

God says, ”I am your Father” and some of us hear Darth Vader. Those of us with “father baggage”  may project our trust issues with our earthly fathers onto God. This Father doesn’t disappoint, abuse or abandon. We can trust Him with our hearts, our dreams and our day to day needs. We are His treasure. We are safe in His care.

Daddy, I trust You to take care of me.

We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us,and by our sincere love. 2 Cor. 6:6

If these characteristics in us are proof of faith then we can’t approach them like trail mix. We have to look at them like baking ingredients. If you leave the raisins out of trail mix it’s still trail mix. If you leave the the flour or baking soda out out of cake, it’s not going to be cake. Nobody starts out as cake. Only God can help us develop adequate proportions all these ingredients and then, we still need to bake awhile.

Lord, make me a cake as fast as you can. (OK, so I could use another teaspoon or so of patience.)

Clearly you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.  2 Cor. 3:3

Imagine trying to write a love letter with a talking pen. Yet the Author chose the Church as His pen. Sometimes the church reminds me of that scene in Beauty and the Beast when animated household items sing “Be our guest.” That scene would have been terrible if each one sang his own song in different keys.

Lord, help us to communicate Your message rather than trying to write our own.

Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 2 Cor. 1:6-7

We are in this together. Sometimes our pain is the very thing that equips us to offer comfort. Sometimes the fact that we are currently in a comfortable position makes us perfect candidates to render aid. The nature of community is that we are going to inconvenience one another.

Lord, help me know it’s worth the trouble, especially when it is trouble.

…we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. 2 Cor. 10:15b

Faith is not magical thinking, positive thinking, or wishful thinking. Faith is transformative thinking. It pushes our boundaries of influence. Faith pushes our inner boundaries as well. Faith accepts God’s definition of possible.

Lord, I can’t believe I’m asking this, but my faith could use a push.

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Cor. 8:7 (NIV)

This time of year gift-giving can bring on feelings of pressure and obligation. Perhaps giving, whether as an act of obedience to further God’s work or as an act of love to bless a friend, should be approached as an act of grace. Christ’s act of grace was costly and sacrificial but carried with it a joyful anticipation of reconciliation and relationship.

Let each gift I give this Christmas be an act of grace.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Cor. 4:7

Professional challenges, relationships, uncertainty, change, or just a rough emotional patch can leave us feeling vulnerable and breakable. That can be a good thing. It is when we recognize our inability to power through these fragile periods under our own strength that Christ can become a brighter, more powerful force in our lives.

Lord, may my fragility reveal Your treasure in my heart and Your power in my life.

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 2 Cor. 9:11

Though they are distinct celebrations, Thanksgiving and Christmas are a cycle of thanks and giving.  Throughout the season we tend to recognize how blessed we are. By giving gifts and sharing meals with people we know and people in need we express appreciation for those people and for Jesus, God’s  most important Gift.

Lord, keep me in this cycle of thankfulness.

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Cor. 1:4

We develop compassion and learn the art of comforting as we experience pain ourselves and receive God’s comfort. In essence, God has partially outsourced compassion and comfort to His followers. His love is present and His name is glorified when we reach out to hurting people.

Lord, help me deliver compassion and comfort in Your name.

We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. 2 Cor. 3:4-5

Study, research, education, talents or skills alone do not qualify human beings to speak God’s truth. This is valid preparation (and we should prepare) but God factors in immeasurable intangibles like trust and inspiration to empower His followers. And experience alone qualifies us to tell about our own personal encounters with Him.

Lord, I’ve prepared as much as I can but You write the resume.

Christ is not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you. Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. 2 Cor. 3b-4a

Christ the political victim or Christ the mild, inoffensive idealist are a few half-conceived images of Christ floating around. On the other end of the spectrum there’s  the “Christ is coming back and he’s really ticked!” image. To know Jesus, the true Jesus who was and is and is to come, we must discard our limited definitions of Him.

Lord, I want to know You as You really are, more deeply and truly each day.

Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. 2 Cor. 2:10

It is impossible to do a full needs assessment before launching into God’s work. Following Him means we allow Him to redefine ideas like “need” or “desired conditions.” What me might consider essential before launching into a project may not even be on God’s radar and what He considers essential might be unexpected.

Lord, I trust You to supply what I need and show me how to work with it.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Cor. 3:18

Sometimes a computer’s performance becomes so slow and glitchy that it has to be reimaged. Though God made mankind in His image, sin so affects the way humans operate that only a reimaging process can restore us to what we were created to be and to do. With Jesus as the default setting, reimaging takes a lifetime.

Lord, restore me.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Cor. 4:7

Most of us like the idea of measurable treasure secured in a safe place. God’s treasury is a collection of breakable, porous pots. He equated this treasure with the intangible energy of light which cannot be easily counted and is unlikely to be contained by the jars.

Lord, I’m kind of a cracked pot so let Your light shine through the cracks.

…wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor. 3:16b

The Spirit is a radical, empowering force in the lives of Christ’s followers. The freedom He brings is a revolt against the pull of the legalistic, the mundane, and the fearful tendencies that affect our attitudes and decisions.  The Spirit releases us to respond with passion and invest with abandon to His love and His leading.

Lord, I want to be a revolutionary follower.

We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. 2 Cor. 1:12a

Rather than embracing the autonomy and rugged individualism we often associate with American independence we are called to lives that are dependent on Christ and connected to others. To become one with Christ, members of one Body with His Church, and one flesh with a spouse, if married, we relinquish independence for interdependence. We trade getting our own way all the time by going it alone for depending on and submitting to God and others.

Lord, thank you for this  interdependent freedom I enjoy.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Cor 3:18

Christ’s gift of grace is more than a spiritual oxygen tank that lets us survive the presence of God. His grace transforms our spiritual lungs into gills so that we belong in the ocean of glory and  joy surrounding His presence. Our old nature struggles in God’s presence as if we were in a foreign environment, but transforming grace invites us to embrace the transformation,  take off the mask, and just breathe.

Lord, I want to feel more at home with You.

God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. 2 Cor. 3b-4a

Jesus’ response to the grief of others was to show up with help, hope, and friendship… and sometimes He wept. We legitimize the grief of others and affirm our connections with others when we are willing to mourn with those who mourn. The poet John Donne put it like this: “each man’s death diminishes me because I am a part of mankind.”

Lord, show me how to respond in a way that brings real comfort.

So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?  Cor. 12:15 (NIV 2011)

We’ve used quilts my grandmother made us so much the patches have worn off and the edging is frayed. Preserving them may have increased their monetary value, but then they would not serve and comfort us. Wrapping up in one of those quilts is like a hug from Mimi for grandchildren who never knew her.

Lord,  let me be used up, worn out, frayed, ripped, and patched up for Your kingdom.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. 2 Cor. 5:16a

Humans have a tendency to make assumptions about one another based on appearance, income, zip code, and other superficial qualities. Jesus responded to each unique individual with genuine interest and love…and still does. We can choose to hear and value one another in the same way.

Lord, help me to listen better and love sincerely.