Back to Corinth: 2 Cor. 6: 1-18

Verses 11-12: “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.”

In the 1965 Pink Panther cartoon, Pink Ice, the Panther is running a diamond mine in South Africa. However, all his diamonds continue to be stolen by rival mine owners, Devereaux and Hoskins. When the bumbling duo attempts to get rid of the Panther, he uses good ol’ fashioned cartoon tricks to ultimately make them distrust each other and have them at each other’s throats, all the while taking their diamonds in return. This was one of those rare Pink Panther cartoons where the Panther actually spoke (the voices of the Panther, Devereaux, and Hoskins were provided by the legendary voice actor, Rich Little.)

Though very humorous to watch how the Panther gets Devereaux and Hoskins to begin sniping at each other and eventually antagonize each other, there are people today and back in Biblical times who would set people against each other. This happened in the case of Paul and the Corinthian church; false prophets had filled the church with lies about Paul, and the church didn’t return the affection back to Paul that he had honestly and openly shown them. Paul correctly admonishes them, telling them that they are their own worst enemy; that Paul and his company of missionaries are not restricting them, but they are hurting themselves.

How many times have we allowed our own misconceptions or groundless beliefs about something to get in the way of the Lord’s work? We need to listen to the truth from Jesus Christ, He who is the Truth. Think how much the church could do today if all its members were united in following God, and not trying to add a comma where God put a period?

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 2 Cor. 5: 1-21

Verse 7: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

I can think of several analogies that this verse brings to mind, such as the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when Indy has to make the “leap of faith” across a large chasm to save his father. I think of an old, dear friend of my wife and mine, who, although physically blind, can see better through her walk of faith than you and me. How about the scene from The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke fails to lift his massive X-wing fighter out of the swamp using the Force, sees Yoda do it when he failed, and says to him, “I don’t believe it”…and Yoda replies, “That is why you failed.”

But today, I think this is a good verse to claim when confronted by the world-wide pandemic we’re living in. Experts come on TV daily with predictions and charts over where hotspots will wane or where “the curve flattens out”. Governors talk about when it will be safe to resume certain activities and not others, all hoping to restart their economies without risking a resurgent outbreak of the coronavirus infections. Just like some things in our lives, we can’t see what the future holds with great certainty.

But I know Who holds the future, and it is faith in Jesus Christ to bring us through. We’ll get through this…through Him.

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 2 Cor. 4:1-18

Verse 7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus, was always one of my favorite Spider-Man villains. Otto was slightly overweight, was not in very good shape, and had to wear glasses; however, he commanded a set of robotic arms that allowed him to go toe-to-toe with Marvel super-heroes like Spider-man and Mister Fantastic. Though he was a brilliant scientist and unparalleled expert in radiation (that fact admitted by Reed Richards with no shame), his weakness was that his human body couldn’t stand the abuse he’d take in a fight if his adversary made it through the defense of his robotic tentacles. His great power (the incredible robot-arm harness) was grafted to a frail body that was very human.

Paul is explaining to the Corinthian church about the light of God in his life as well as their fellow Christians. The power of God, used by disciples in acts of healing, was not of them though. Paul wanted to stress that having God’s power in his life didn’t turn him superhuman; he was all but subject to the frailties of the human body and its weaknesses. Paul wanted to make sure they knew that this treasure, the light of God through Jesus Christ our Savior, was from God and not themselves. He compared the human body to an earthen vessel….temporary…common…and subject to breaking.

That way, as he stated, “the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Something to think about.

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