2 Corinthians 3:1-18 Proof of Life
“Don’t you get it? You are the proof of what we have been preaching!” This is Paul’s cry to this body of believers. Everything he has been sharing with them has brought them to where they are now. From glory to glory! No, the journey has not been easy but it has been worth it.
When reading our text today I got a picture of a traveling medicine man; the “snake oil salesman.” He would go from town to town scamming people out of their hard earned money by proclaiming false cures. He usually had the crow seeded with his accomplices shouting false testimonies. Nothing he sold was worth the price.
Paul, on the other hand came to town selling nothing. He gave it away freely instead. What he gave away cost everything though, but it was priceless! He needed no hucksters yelling out how incredible what he had to offer was. Anyone who had actually tried it was more than willing to share its value.
What Paul brought was Jesus’ love and His new covenant. What it replaced was God’s original covenant. The old covenant was amazing but it had limitations and flaws. Not because of its Designer but because of its recipients. So much of it had to be hidden. We couldn’t understand it. We couldn’t take it all in. We couldn’t live up to it. It brought hope but not life. It was a promise with another undefined promise to come. The promise of, “If you… then I will…, and one day I’ll send you a Savior.”
The new covenant that Jesus brought grows deeper every day. The more we look at it and into it the more we see. No, we still don’t understand everything. But what we do have and understand draws us closer to the Author. It brings hope AND life. This one is a promise with an identified promise to come. It fulfills the previous covenant’s promise while specifying the final promise. This promise is, “If you will accept the Savior I sent, you will be with Me for eternity. I won’t be with you ‘someday’ but every moment of your life from that moment on, and beyond.”
That was the promise Paul brought. The believers in the body he was writing to were the living proof of that promise. They just needed to have the mirror held up before them to realize that. Sometimes you don’t really see your blessings until someone points them out to you. That is what Paul was doing. Were they having “pie in the sky” and “living on easy street?” No. But they were experiencing the life Jesus bought for them. They had the peace He purchased. They had the assurance of eternal salvation paid for by His blood. They didn’t have to wonder “when” and “if” their Savior would arrive. They knew His name AND the reason He came. They also knew that He knew their name too, because of the promise.
Hallelujah! It that’s not shouting words I don’t know what is!
THANK YOU Father! THANK YOU Jesus! THANK YOU Holy Spirit! Your promise is AMAZING! I DON’T deserve it. I didn’t earn it. But I am forever grateful for it! Let me be Your proof too. I KNOW I did/do/will blow it but You don’t take Your promise away from me even then. You uphold both ends of our agreement when I fall short. There is no “snake oil” here. Only Your truth. Your promise of love and eternity together.
Thank You. Those words are so inadequate but they are spilt directly from my heart. I Love You Lord!
