To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 2:4 “I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.”

Do you understand what motivated God to give us the Bible?  Why would He do such a thing?  To hear some people speak, it would seem that God is nothing more than a cosmic killjoy.  The Bible is nothing more than a list of dos and don’ts meant to deprive us of fun, or so some would have us think.  Why read something that can cause us to have guilt feelings about what we’ve done? I’ve had people tell me that the Bible, religion, even Christ himself, isn’t something they feel they need.  They’ve done fine all these years without any thought of such things. Why burden them with the words in this old book? 

Well, to answer this, it’s good to look at the heart of men such as the apostle Paul through whom God gave us His Word.  What motivated Paul?  What was it that caused him to write letters to the churches in the various cities to whom he wrote? Beyond that, what motivated the Holy Spirit to say these things to them THROUGH Paul, for that’s what this really is? Was it to trouble them, for much of what he had to say drew attention to problems in their lifestyles, worship practices, and ways of thinking? He said difficult things. For example, in 1 Corinthians we have an account of hard things, rebukes, and admonitions said to a church that was in disarray.  Changes were needed, and they were needed now! There were things going on that were destructive to the body of believers and Paul wrote to address those issues.  But then, in the verse above from 2 Corinthians 2, Paul refers back to things he had written earlier and tells them that what he’d said had not been meant to cause them pain, ultimately, that is. As he wrote, his attitude wasn’t anger. He wasn’t fed up with them and wanting to give them a piece of his mind. No, when he wrote to them, he did so “out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears.”  He wrote what he did for one reason: to let them know “the abundant love” he had for them.  And why did he have such love? Why did he take the time to admonish and correct them when he could easily have turned his back and forgotten about them? It was because he was well aware of the Lord’s great love toward him.  He had been worse than the Corinthians in his former life, much worse. In the name of religion, he had opposed the church and joined with others in persecuting some of Jesus’ followers to the death. In all of this, he was really persecuting Christ, as Jesus had revealed to him with the words from His own mouth (Acts 9:4-5).  Yet, Jesus confronted him not to destroy him in revenge, but to call him to repentance from his sin so he could be saved, transformed, and made new with a heart filled with the very love of Christ.  Now Paul would say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  And it was in that spirit of love, incredible and deep love, that Paul wrote what he did, not just to the church in Corinth, but to anyone else, like you and me, who might read his words.

But behind it all was an even greater love, the love of the God who loved him.  That’s why God gave us the Bible. That’s why He has told us the things that He’s said. That’s why He’s told us hard things that expose our sin, so that our eyes would be opened to the way in which that sin is blocking us out from the great and glorious love that Jesus wants to pour into our lives.  It’s the same as if God is saying to each and every one of us personally, “I wrote to you (put your name in here) not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” 

We see this very thing in the account of Jesus as He stood and looked over the city of Jerusalem.  As he looked on a city full of people who had rejected Him with the same “affliction and anguish of heart” that Paul experienced as he wrote to the Corinthians, He said this: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34). 

You see, the love that God has for us is a love so deep that we can’t possibly plumb its depths. It is from this great and fathomless love that He has written to us the things we can read by simply picking up a Bible and peering into its pages.  But we must do it. Love is something that does us little good if we won’t receive it. And as long as any of us continue in our ignorance, love of ourselves, and sin, so that it keeps us from His Word, we are the losers, such great losers, of the great and wonderful things that the God who is love, has for us.