Open your hearts to us!

Ruth 3; Ruth 4; Psalm 64; Psalm 65; 2 Corinthians 6
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Scripture

2 Corinthians 6

3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us.

We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. 8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 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.

11 Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. 12 There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. 13 I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!

Observation

The church at Corinth was breaking Paul’s heart because they had rejected him. Paul was crying out to them and letting them know how much it hurt him for them to withhold their love. All the other suffering that Paul endured was something that he could handle but their rejection was too much for him and he cried out to them pleading with them to open up their hearts.

I know the feeling. I don’t like it when someone rejects me. It is a stab like a knife and the hurt goes deep. The wound of rejection is difficult for anyone to handle. People that commit suicide many times reach that point in their life because they feel totally rejected. Physical abuse is bad but emotional abuse is even worse and Paul is letting the church at Corinth know how much it hurt.

Have you been hurt by someone? Have you been rejected? Let me encourage you to stay close to the Lord. He is a friend that will never leave you or forsake you. He will stick by you closer than a brother.

Application

I will serve an audience of ONE today. His name is JESUS!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me deal with people that are hurting. I pray for the Parnell’s today as they have the Memorial service for their Mom. I pray that You would direct my thoughts today and I pray that what I do would be profitable for Your kingdom. I pray for all the new people that came to our church this past Sunday. I pray that they would find our church a place that they could call “home.” Help us be that kind of church.

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