Daily Reading // 2 Corinthians 11:5-11
READY // SILENCIO
Take a moment to quiet your mind and prepare your heart for your time with the Lord.
READ // LECTIO
Read the passage above up to threw times aloud. Allow yourself to feel the words as they are read.
REFLECT // MEDITATIO
Now direct your focus on the words, phrases concepts or sentences that got your attention. What is God speaking to you today through His word?
2 Corinthians 11:8 (NKJV) I robbed other churches, taking wages [from them] to minister to you.
There is always a cost to ministry. Somebody has to pay. Having to pay a cost for ministry didn’t begin with the U.S. church.
In addition to this text I think about the story of the Good Samaritan. An important part of that text is the cost that he bore. He used up his own oil and wine and paid the full hotel cost. There is always a cost and someone has to pay.
Missions and outreach ministries have always understood that the people needing the ministry the most are unable or unwilling to pay for it. Someone else, like the Good Samaritan, has to be willing to pay the price.
You can go back to the very beginning of the nation of Israel. There has always been a tithe, a sacrifice, a temple tax.
Paying the cost for ministry, even ministry to others, isn’t an unfortunate and unavoidable part of ministry. It is an essential part of ministry and discipleship.
Like Ornan the Jebusite said to king David, “I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing.”
There is always a cost to ministry.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Jesus, You gave all for me. All I have belongs to You. Amen.
Tomorrow’s reading -> 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
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