• Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:
  • A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
  • A Guide to Self-Reflection
  • A Chart to help articulate feelings

Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 (ESV)

³ We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Reflection & Application 

2 Corinthians 6:4-5

“[T]he focus of Paul’s commendation…is once again on his divinely enabled endurance in the midst of adversity. […]  [T]his endurance ‘commends’ Paul as a servant of God. […]” [1]

• In what ways do the many sufferings of Paul and his companions commend them as servants of God?
• What sacrifices or hardships have I suffered for the sake of the gospel that I can point to as “commendations” to back up my identity as a Christian?  

2 Corinthians 6:8-10

• Reflect on the real difficulties, the actual pain and struggle, which must lie behind the words listed here that describe the life of ministry.  Reflect also on the fact that all believers are called to be ministers.  
• Think of the paradoxes in v. 10 and what they say about the glory and dignity of being servants of God.  To what extent can I affirm these words as aptly describing my view of Christian life, my actual experience as a Christian, and my personal vision for my life?

[1]  Gary M. Burge, 2 Corinthians The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2000