2 Corinthians 3

So in the morning I'm reading My Utmost For His Highest and also a chapter or two in the Voice translation of the Bible. I've worked through John, Romans and 1 Corinthians. I'm in 2 Corinthians now. I really like how it gives some background of what's going on and why Paul is writing the letters and who he's writing them to. If I've learned anything in the last year or so it's that context is SO important. Vital, really. I say in the last year because I really feel like that's when I've started to dive in to the Bible and wanted to know more.

Today I read 2 Corinthians 2 and 3 and whoa. 3 in particular.

Paul is writing to the church in Corinth in a time where they were struggling as a church and also struggling to trust him.

2 Corinthians 3:3
You are the living letter of the Liberating King, nurture by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God - a letter too passionate to be chiseled onto stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart.

Whewy. Emblazoned upon the human heart. Do you ever get that feeling that when someone explains something or you see a car crash scene or something, that you feel that pain or whatever that person described? That's what I feel in that sentence. I feel something on my heart, in my chest.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6
This is the kind of confidence we have in and through the Liberating King toward our God. Don't be mistaken; in and of ourselves we know we have little to offer, but any competence or value we have comes from God. Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which only brings death, but by the Spirit who brings life.

Again, whewy! Confidence.. competence.. equipped.. Big words for me. ..the Spirit who brings life. Love it.

2 Corinthians 3: 12
In light of this hope that we have, we act with great confidence and speak with great courage.

Again with the confidence.. and courage. Wow.

2 Corinthians 3: 17-18
By any heart where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is liberty. Now all of us, with our faces unveiled (ohhh notice how he doesn't just say "Now us men" or anything about women being veiled.. interesting.. I'm learning about the different ways the church has used different scripture passages to hurt women and downplay our role in the church.. tangent.), are transfixed by the glory of the Lord, gazing - like we'd gaze into a mirror - at His splendor, and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory into another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.

Who accomplishes it? Ohhh the Spirit of the Lord? Not me? Oh to let go and trust God, huh? :) I'm off the hook really. It's not something I need to do. It's something I trust Him to do. I think that sounds like a lovely plan. <3