Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

2 Corinthians 8:22-24

In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

Paul said here that zeal for ministry must be proven. The Bible teaches us that only the zeal of Jehovah can accomplish great things; therefore, the test for our zeal is to see whether we have died from our human zeal, but are living with God's zeal.

Paul has experienced many tests for his zeal. When he first accepted the Lord, he had great zeal and he went around Damascus to preach about Christ. The Jews talked about killing him, but according to Paul's zeal and his personality he wouldn't have been afraid of no one because he thought truth was on his side. God, however, didn't work that way, but instead wanted him to sneak out through the wall of Damascus using a rope. To the young and energetic Paul, that was a real blow to his esteem. That's why in 2 Corinthian 11:30-33 he mentioned about 'things that show my weakness," which was referring to his escape from Damascus. Later on, he went to Jerusalem and he wanted to work for the Lord, but the Jerusalem church didn't accept him because Paul persecuted them before; when Paul wanted to serve with them, however, the Jerusalem church didn't know what to make of it, so they kept distance from Paul.

Also, Paul didn't really understand the principle of serving with others, so he encountered many failures and setbacks. Shortly after Paul went to Jerusalem, some local non-believer Jews saw that he could refute all the people, so they wanted to kill him. Paul then had to escape to Tarsus for over ten years. The Bible didn't say what he did during all those years, and it seemed like everyone, including God, forgot about him. Why did he have to encounter all these things? Hudson Taylor said in his diary that if it wasn't for the years of trial, the dreams and passion of Paul the young man wouldn't have matured. It was in essence a test of his zeal.

If you are encountering the same kind of tests in your path of serving the Lord, you need to accept them with joy. 1 Peter 5:9 says that "standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." God will ultimately restore us and make us strong, and empower us to serve Him.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I ask that your Spirit touch the brothers and sisters who were relying on their own zeal but became discouraged and disillusioned. May your Spirit pour down and fill them, encourage them again so that they will turn back to you. Let them have the zeal from you once again. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!