2 Corinthians 5:11-15 (NRSV)
Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 on biblegateway.com
Verse 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.
Verse 12We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. Verse 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. Verse 14For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. Verse 15And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
Devotion
It has been said that ours is a materialistic culture. We spend and get for our own material well-being. If that is so, self-centered reality cuts against the grain of today’s text, for it tells us we live not for ourselves but for the one who died and was raised. This affirmation, then, cuts against the grain of our culture and our own natural desires. To realign our thinking and lifestyle is no easy matter. The discipline of Lent—repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love—helps us to wage our spiritual warfare. Lent is a counter-cultural struggle to which we commit ourselves.
Prayer
O God, we are well known by you, a knowledge that is of ultimate importance. Help us to make you known to others so that the world may know we live not for ourselves but for you and your purpose. Amen.