1 Corinthians 16

V.8-9, Paul currently facing adversaries (still concerned with others)

I am the type of guy who gets consumed in the moment, when something happens or goes wrong that is all I can think of until I have it resolved. Shawnna tells me all the time, that I let little things destroy my day. For some reason my mind won’t let me rest until I resolve or complete things, it can both be a blessing and a curse. My mind set makes what Paul reveals in verses 8-9 are real mystery to me. He was writing this letter to Corinth from Ephesus and mentions in verse 9 that he was facing many adversaries. He doesn’t give details as to what is going on, but others say that he had many opposing or standing in opposition to the work he was doing. In other words, he was surrounded by individuals who was trying to keep him from doing what God wanted him to do. In the face of all this Paul took the time to write the people of Corinth because he had love and concern for them.

It isn’t like he just dropped a post card that said, “Thinking of you.” He wrote a substantial letter that ended up being 16 chapters of the New Testament Bible. This took some serious thought, concentration, and time. All during a time he was facing great persecution from all directions in Ephesus. Through all his struggle, he is thinking of others and how he can serve and minister to them. We see this from the Apostle Paul in many of his writings as several where written from a prison cell and the book of 2 Timothy was written as he waited for his sentenced execution to be fulfilled. We all need a heart like this, the world would be such a better place if we loved like this. And all he was doing was simply following in the footsteps of his Savior. The whole time Jesus was suffering on the cross he was thinking of us, not His current state of pain and anguish but the fact that the pain and anguish He was experiencing was going to bring peace and mercy to the world.