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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
April 21
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Today's Pathway:
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Paul is continuing with his exhortations. Up until this point most of them have dealt with relationships between believers. Now in verse 14 he moves outside of the church and discusses our relationship with those who oppose us. The word "bless" means to speak well of someone. The Greek word is the basis for our English word "eulogize". When someone offers a eulogy at a funeral service they say wonderful things about the deceased. Sometimes it may seem like the one in the coffin perhaps did not deserve all the praise that is being heaped upon him at his funeral. That is what is happening in this verse. The persecutor does not deserve to be blessed, yet he is to be well spoken of. Both the verbs "bless" and "persecute" are continuous action verbs. So, we are to be continually blessing the person who is continually persecuting us. That is even more difficult, isn't it? If a man does something to us once, we could possibly overlook it. But when it is non-stop opposition, that makes it much more difficult to tolerate, and far less easy to pronounce blessings. Jesus said this,
"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also" (Luke 6:27-29).
Look at these commands that our Lord gives: love, do good, bless, pray, offer, forbid not. These are not natural responses to persecution, but, as believers, we are no longer "natural" people, for the natural man is unsaved (I Corinthians 2:14). We are to be spiritual people, and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit we can do what God tells us to do in this area. We simply must choose to do so.
In verse 15 Paul returns to relationships among believers. While this verse could be applied to our relationships with the unsaved, the context would seem to indicate that church fellowships are in view. I Corinthians 12:26 is speaking about the local church when it states,
"And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."
When a brother in Christ has cause to rejoice, we should be glad with him. Sometimes church folks can be offended or embittered by someone else's blessings. They may wonder why they have not received such good news for themselves, and rather than rejoice with their brother, they sulk and feel sorry for themselves. If we truly love our brethren, we will be thrilled when God blesses them, and we will celebrate with them. In the same way, we will weep with those who are going through difficult situations. It seems that often when a church friend is having a bad time we might take a moment to send a card, or perhaps give them a few minutes of our time to ask how they are doing. But this is not what Paul has in mind. The response of the concerned Christian is the same as the emotion of the grieving brother. Both are weeping. In church we share prayer requests. When someone mentions a heartache that they are dealing with, how do we respond? Does it really affect us? Do we pray for them? Do we weep with them and for them, or is their need forgotten as soon as they are out of sight? These are important questions that each of us needs to consider.
In closing, let me share the following comment by Warren Wiersbe:
"Paul reminded them that they must enter into the feelings of others. Christian fellowship is much more than a pat on the back and a handshake. It means sharing the burdens and the blessings of others so that we all grow together and glorify the Lord."
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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