June 7, 2024

Blessed to Be a Blessing

Allen Huff | Read 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 , Read 2 Corinthians 5:1

(Image by: Pixabay)

Lectionary Week

June 3–9, 2024

Scripture Overview

We sometimes struggle to believe in the power of a God we cannot see. The psalmist declares that God is greater than any earthly king and will preserve us in the face of our enemies. However, in the time of Samuel, the Israelites demanded a human king to lead them into battle. God was not enough for them. Paul admonishes the Corinthians not to repeat this mistake. We should not think that what we see is the ultimate reality. What we see is temporary; what cannot be seen is eternal. Perhaps Jesus is teaching a similar idea in this somewhat troubling passage in Mark. Jesus is not against family, but he is emphasizing that human families are temporary; spiritual family is eternal.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

Read 1 Samuel 8:4-20. How are you influenced by the culture around you? What helps you align your priorities with God’s?
Read Psalm 138. When you “walk in the midst of trouble,” how do you remember God’s presence with you?
Read 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1. How do you find yourself being renewed today in spite of parts of your “outer nature” that may be “wasting away”?
Read Mark 3:20-35. Who is your spiritual family? Who do you identify as your brothers, sisters, mother, and father?

Respond by posting a prayer.

Paul speaks of “gratitude,” of “bodies breaking down on the outside,” of those same bodies “on the inside . . . being renewed every day,” and of an incomparable “stockpile of glory” (ceb).
“So,” he says, “we aren’t depressed” (ceb).
In 2018, my dad died of ALS. For years, we...

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God of wholeness, help us to be faithful followers of Christ so that gratitude, healing, and blessing may abound. Amen.

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