2 Corinthians 3:4-6

4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Someday, I plan on going skydiving. Skydiving, of course, is very tricky and dangerous. It takes a lot of knowledge to do it correctly. However, anyone can go skydiving. You just have to do a tandem jump with an instructor.

In a tandem jump, you can honestly say that you went skydiving. But, ultimately, it was the instructor who took care of all of the skill part. You still did it, but you didn’t really do it. Paradoxical, yes. But either way, you get to experience the rush of a lifetime.

This is sort of what Paul is getting at. We can do anything, yet we can do nothing. We can do it because God is doing it. But the cool part is that we get to take the dive with him, and even though it is God and not us, we get to experience all of the rush.

What plane is God calling you to dive out of? What’s keeping you from doing it?

2 Corinthians 3.1-3

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A friend of mine died the other day. While she will be missed, I’m pretty sure that she was ready. Most would say that she didn’t do much of significance. She spent most of her life in a small town, just miles from where she was born. Most of her life she was a stay at home mom making sure that the daily duties were taken care of. She loved to work in the kitchen, she was a whiz at gardening, and her home was always open to anyone who dropped by. It was during those “drop by” times that God taught us lessons. She would always be ready to talk about her family (her daughter and her family are in Haiti) serving as missionaries. She would love to talk about what was happening in the church. Her concern for her guests and her concern about others needing to know Jesus always seeped out of every conversation.

I wish that you could have known my friend. She never wrote any books and there likely won’t be any books written about her. But when you were around her, she was a letter written from Christ, who wrote upon the tablets of her heart.

Today, take some time to get away. Get away and spend some quality time with the one who has poured out his Spirit upon us.

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

A Few Words On the Olfactory Senses

I can’t stand the smell of fish. It doesn’t matter what kind of fish it is – I detest the smell of fish. That’s why every time I’ve been to a zoo, I cringe when the animal trainer comes out with a big pail of fish to feed the animals. The seals and walruses go crazy to the extent that they “clap” and wriggle from side to side with jubilation. Yuck!

What smells absolutely horrible to me, smells like a really good, life-sustaining meal to those zoo animals. For a few bites of fish, they’ll even perform embarrassing tricks for a large audience!

There is a great analogy here:

In these verses, Paul paints a great picture of the Christian ministry. He thought of believers as incense, from which the fragrance of Jesus was experienced in the lives and labors of Christ-followers. Within a community of believers, this fragrance means life. To many unbelievers, the fragrance is the stench of death.

Now, I don’t exactly think the smell of fish is like death , but I certainly make a b line to the bottle of Febreze to cover it up! Which leads me to ask: Are we leading lives that offer up a fragrance that God delights in, or are we more concerned with smelling like potpourri to the world?

2 Corinthians 2:5-11

5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

One of the members of the Corinthian church caused Paul and the church a great deal of pain. We do not know what sin was committed, but we do know that in a separate letter, Paul had urged the church to discipline the man in a Biblical manner. Once this was done and the man repented, Paul says: “Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise, he may become so discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Now show him that you still love him.”

What I think we can learn from this is that sin should not be ignored, but neither should the person who sinned be disciplined to the point that they feel hopeless. I once read that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so that we will confess it and turn to Christ for cleansing; but Satan accuses us of sin so that we will despair and give up. Of course, we are to follow the model that Jesus gives us in the way that we address sin and forgive others.

2 Corinthians 1.23–2.4

23 I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. 1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

In our Christian walk we all mess up or don’t live up to the standard God set for us. As brothers and sisters in Christ, it is not for us to condemn one another but to take up responsibility for keeping each other on the straight and narrow path. We shouldn’t get mad at the person for their sin; “hate the sin not the sinner” but instead correct each other out of the love and concern for the persons soul. If the situation comes up and you don’t think you can control your anger or disappointment over a fellow Christian’s sins, do like Paul, write them a letter that ENCOURAGES them to come back to the faith and share in the joy you have when you are both right with God.