2/9/21 - 2 Corinthians 4:4 [NIV]

 

2/9/21 - 2 Corinthians 4:4 [NIV]

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

- This is not a vindication of believers who imagine themselves to be the only right-thinking people in a truly hostile world. It is also a head's up to those believers who let the same enemy take them hostage too. If we feel discouraged or wounded by the victims of the devil who also encourages us to resent and hate those who hate us, then we become his victims too.

- We can only display the same Glory of Christ who is the image of God – who is love – if we find love without judgment raised in us by the one who loved our enemies enough to die for them. I regret the imaginary dartboards I’ve fashioned in my mind with the face of human enemies who are so blinded by Satan they rejoice in the hurt and damage they have done in the name of their own imagined goodness.

- And that is how the enemy robs us of our voices and destroys us all… by getting us to hate and struggle against each other so we can no longer hear each other speak truth. I am grateful that God listens with forgiving grace to my own sometime foolish rants that really indict Him because He doesn’t obliterate those who oppose Him (meaning me). His response to me is to let me see in scripture like this that He is working in a way Satan cannot grasp…in humility and love.

- Even more importantly, he has opened my ears so I can begin to hear their heart-cries coming from wounded or arrogant accusations that may have elements of truth I need to hear. That humility becomes a fertile ground for sharing the Truth in a way that can get past their blindness. And even if it doesn’t, the Glory of Christ in God reaches more deeply into me and creates the unspeakable joy that is God’s true gift to his own.

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