Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Live with Genuine Faith | New Testament | 2 Corinthians 6

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

What sets Christians apart from everyone else? True, genuine faith. In today's episode, Tanya discusses 2 Corinthians 6 where Paul shares what real faith in Jesus looks like. Find out how your circumstances might prove true faith. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Corinthians 6

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. On Labor Day weekend, 1960, a few athletes made a little wager. At the University of Missouri, the boxing team and the cross-country team shared the same training facility. The boxers watched the runners doing their thing and sing their running workouts as less rigorous than their boxing regiments. They challenged the runners at their own sport, and as legend has it, the talk got. big, and they placed wages on who was actually in shape enough to run 26.2 miles. The following day was a Monday and a holiday, and the roads were typically less busy. So they agreed on a meeting spot,

a time, just before sunrise, and a destination, a small town called Fulton, 26 miles down the highway. The next morning, as the sun was about to rise over the middle of the USA, six runners lined up to begin their first ever marathon. Supposedly, none of them had ever even run more than eight consecutive miles before. And even though one of those runners backed out, they still outnumbered the boxers that morning, five to zero. Not a single one of the boxing team. The ones who started this whole thing made an appearance on the starting line. Three and a half hours later, two runners finished what is now considered the most challenging marathon in the country. People still come from all 50 states to test their guts at the hot hilly Labor Day race.

Something broke down between the training facility and the starting line for those boxers. They sounded like they had more faith in their ability than they really did. And for the runners, or at least for a couple of them, their faith in the training program to get them all the way to 26.2 proved genuine. This brings us to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, where we get to hear Paul talk about something bearing much more weight than the outcome of a road race. For the Corinthians and all believers to live differently, they must have genuine faith. Why should they live differently?

why should we? Well, because God designed a way to flourish in his kingdom by faith, and for the kingdom of God to be made known through us to others. To prevent our lives from being a stumbling block to those that we want to hear the good news about Jesus, in all the ups and downs of life and ministry, as Christians, genuine faith lives differently. Now, if you've heard the truth about Jesus and you're waiting for the right time to get around to focusing on your faith. Pay attention to the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul says, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. And then he quotes a verse from Isaiah that says, in a favorable time, I listen to you. And in a day of salvation, I have helped you.

Paul says, behold, now is the favorable time. Behold now is the day of salvation. There's an emphasis placed on time, the right now of it, in regard to living by faith. Paul warns them not to allow any room for excuses that would get in the way of their response to God's grace right now. We read other verses in the Bible that say the same thing. For example, Psalm 32-6. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer a prayer to you when you may be found. And Psalm 6913. But as for me, my prayers to you are Lord and an acceptable time, O God.

Oh, God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness. and from the New Testament, Hebrews 313, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. See, we don't know what's going to come in our direction today. We don't know if we're going to live or die, if we're going to celebrate or suffer,

if we're going to have overwhelming temptation or need to help someone else with theirs. Paul shared his own ups and downs to help the Corinthians understand that there wasn't anything special about him that they should admire other than his faith in the world. one true king. Kind of sounds like he's bragging at first, but in their culture, it was necessary to recommend yourself or be recommended by someone who knew you to find your place in the community. So Paul describes in verse four why he's recommending himself to them, and as someone's sharing and

teaching the gospel, it's not because he's so great himself, but because of the way he is able to live differently out of genuine faith. What they see him do and say in the midst of his high highs and low lows is just evidence of God's amazing grace. Paul wrote, As servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance. In afflictions, hardships, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech, and through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold,

we live, as punished and yet not. not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything. Paul's saying there's no way we could handle these things at all, let alone with integrity, if we took the gospel in vain. And when you and your friends and family see us acting with integrity, it's because of Jesus Christ who lives in us. It would be foolish to think we can live through the things we're going to face, maybe today and maybe tomorrow, without faith. Why would you make an excuse today? Why would you wait? Think about the story of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There was nothing incredibly special about them that kept them from

bowing down to King Nebuchadnezzar's statue to avoid the lion's den. But there was something special about their faith and the one in whom their faith was in. Think about the story of Job, who lost everything, yet still trusted God. Or Hannah, who waited and prayed fervently for a child, and then gave him back to God for service in his church. Or those people you know who respond to feedback with grace, to criticism with open ears, to challenges with calm humility, the woman who waited to hear back results from a biopsy

with joyful peace, the man, who faced imminent death while encouraging his friends and family. There's nothing special that we need to emulate about these kinds of people that is not available to us when we put our trust in Jesus also. Today, I ever launch a friend was sharing with me how she's going through a hard patch right now.

She has a big responsibility and it's taking up a lot of time and it's presenting several challenges. She's making decisions and sometimes it feels like choosing the best one from the worst. But then she said, it's really sweet because I also have lots of good things happening with other people and lots of things to look forward to. So overall, I'm doing really well. Listening and taking in what she said, I asked, do you think it's because of circumstances, Or perspective, you're doing well. Her answer was immediate. Oh, definitely, perspective.

Real faith in the true king looks different because it's not circumstantial. It certainly wasn't for Paul. His hardships didn't give him a free pass to act like an angry, impatient jerk. They didn't keep him from breaking bread and savoring a good meal in pure joy when it came along. We might have great parents, great kids, a great spouse, and a great job. and live in a state of miserable anxiety. Or you might lack all of them and live in miserable anxiety.

Or you might not have them at all, and yet experience gratitude, contentment, and even joy. Have you been through a challenging situation that has proven your faith genuine? What did you notice God doing for you? What did you notice God doing in you? What did you notice God doing through you. If you answered any of those questions, you have a lot to be grateful for. You can ask God

to continue to encourage you and strengthen you in your faith. You can ask God to make your heart wide open, like Paul also said in 2nd Corinthians 6, so other people can be encouraged by you. You can ask God to make you a pillar, not a stumbling block, so the people around you that you want to know the gospel also will see him working in you. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.