2 Corinthians 3:1-4 A Letter Written on the Heart
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 17, 2020 2 Corinthians 3:1-4
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
(Understanding the Text) Paul has just spoken of how God blessed his work in Troas and Macedonia even though Paul himself was not focused on it because of his worry about the Corinthians. Paul said that he ended up with a Triumphal Procession although he himself had not focused on his mission. He said that through Christ it had been greatly successful. Now, Paul pokes fun at himself saying that it sounds like he is trying to brag. He says that he doesn’t need to brag to impress anyone because the Corinthians themselves are his badge of honor.
Paul says that the Corinthians are in his heart and anyone who knows him can read of his love for them. Anyone who sees the Corinthian believers and the Spirit of God living in them will think highly of Paul because he brought the news of Jesus to them. Paul’s confidence is not in the believers but in Jesus working through the Spirit in their lives connecting them to God.
(Application / Revelation of God / Prayer) My application for myself is that the Spirit of the living God is living in me writing on the tablet of my heart. He is trustworthy. Jesus has proven Himself for all time. He is trustworthy. Thus, I can trust that God is writing a beautiful poem in my heart, transforming me into beauty and grace. I may still look like a clumsy, caricature of what God originally intended on the outside, but that is temporary. That will be taken care of at glorification. What is more important is what is happening on the inside. The Spirit of God is changing me. I’m still in that process, so I cannot see the final result yet, but I can have confidence that He will do what He has said He will do. Help me to trust You.