“Corinthian Slander” – 2 Cor. 10:7-15

Good morning, welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School. We're still in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Let's open in prayer. Father, your word is everything we need, and we thank you for that.

This morning as we look into your word, would you illuminate us so that we might honor you with obedience in what we find this morning. And Lord, it's nothing new, it's been the same. God's word is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

But for each of us, you bring it new every morning. Your mercies are new every morning, and we thank you for that. Lord, illuminate us, give us wisdom, give us discernment, and help us to be about the business of spreading the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world and our own world.

And in obeying it so that it might match what we say, and we'll thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. So this old guy needs a little bit better light this morning. Yeah, but there we go, yeah, yeah.

Paul’s Authority Is for Building Up, Not Tearing Down

All right, so let's open up, let's look at chapter 10, and we'll read from verse 7 through the end of the chapter. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 7, where Paul reminds them that they're looking at the outward and not the inward.

2 Corinthians 10, 7 through 18, you are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ, let him consider this again within himself. But just as he is Christ, so also are we.

For even if I should boast somewhat further about our authority which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame. For I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.

For they say, his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible. Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure to reach even as far as you. For we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach to you.

For we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ. Not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors. But with the hope that as your faith grows, we shall be within our sphere enlarged even more by you.

So as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

So in this section, we're gonna see some pure sarcasm, and it's delightful. Paul has no problem using irony and sarcasm dealing with the people who have leveled charges against his apostleship, against his words, and against his person.

And it's a common tactic for people who have no real argument to attack the person, appearance, speech, dress of those that they disagree with,.

Of those that they hate.

And so that's what the false apostles are going to do in this, and Paul's gonna respond to that. And we'll get a little bit of history about what possibly Paul looked like. And it's interesting that God chooses the weak, the powerless, the unimpressive to bring his gospel to the world.

And that way, and that way for sure, when it's done, God gets the glory. And God should always get the glory, and Paul will insist on that. So in verse 7, we finished off with verse 8, but in verse 7, he reminds everybody that he's writing to, but most importantly, those who will hear this letter who are false apostles.

He's reminding them that they're looking at things outwardly, and that if they're confident that they are Christ, more so, he is confident he is Christ, and then he says, he's not gonna, and obviously, these guys were bragging.

They were bragging about how important they were, about how much they knew, and about how wonderful they were. And they were believing their own press releases, by the way. And it's unfortunate when people get to that point.

Well, it's unfortunate all the way up, the process that gets you there. In a properly functioning body of Christ, there will be Bereans in the body who will come up afterwards and say, aren't you just a little bit too proud of yourself?

And that, if done properly, is a good thing. It's a good thing. Because all of us should remember that at the foot of the cross, as they say, the ground is level. Now, there are places of responsibility, but only as those individuals occupying those places of responsibility, only as they obey the word of God in doing what they're supposed to be doing, should they be left in those positions of responsibility.

And so, I'm just amazed, I wonder what the effect was on this between 55 AD and 95, before we ever hear about the Corinthians again. They must have most certainly responded in obedience, and Paul talks about that, about how they had.

So then he says, even if I boast about our authority, what does Paul use his authority for, his authority was used to build them up, never to tear down. Now again, as we mentioned last week, there are necessarily times for church discipline, but even that, when done according to scripture, is not for tearing down, it's for building up.

And when people can be brought to a point of repentance, that is a building up, that is a restoring and a healing and a building up. It can be hard to do, but Paul was not afraid to do that, and in fact, that's what he's doing here, he's calling these false apostles out.

And what he has had to do is, he goes and he preaches in the synagogues, he was on Mars Hill, he's preached to the unbelievers, he preaches to believers, he teaches, he encourages, he exhorts, he corrects, he instructs, he informs.

And he does it both in person and by letter. And so what the false apostles are saying, well, you're pretty terrifying in your letters, but when you're out front of us, right in front of us, you're a chicken lily livered dirt bag, is what they would basically say in modern terms.

Now, I don't know if they'd say that to his face, but they apparently have said it, and word has gotten back to him. He didn't want to terrify people by his letters, he wanted his letters also to be instruments of building up.

That's the authority that God gave him. And when he wrote those letters, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now, the missing letters, I'll leave that to whatever the myths of history have, but those letters were used as well.

And one of them, it says here, so we're gonna jump into verse nine now. He says, for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. So indeed, it might have seemed to the Corinthians that Paul was always writing terrifying letters.

In fact, they were not. They were full of praise and encouragement. The ones we have worked for certain. And it would stand to reason that the unknown letters would be that way also. Certainly, there were difficult passages, passages that had to deal with the difficult Corinthian problems.

And remember, in verse seven of chapter of this book, they asked questions.

What about this? What about that?

And Paul answered those questions. I can imagine him saying, you asked. But Paul was like any other shepherd. He really wanted to love and to build up and to encourage. That becomes very difficult when one is dealing with the disobedient body composed of believers and unbelievers.

Now, the hardest thing to deal with is disobedient believers. Just frankly, it is. People who are supposed to be loving the Lord and following scripture, and they're not, and they're attacking you. It's hardest when your friends attack you.

When someone you don't know, when an outsider, it's painful. But it's not nearly as painful to be attacked by an unknown as it is by someone who purports to love you. Very likely, the false apostles had accused Paul of being abusive and over-authoritative based on the severe letter.

These were character qualities that they themselves were guilty of. What's that old saying? When you're pointing at me, there's three fingers pointing back at you. And that's a good thing to remember any time we're dealing with people that we have to be involved in their correction.

Yes. Don't you find that when you're speaking the truth to people who have a guilty conscience that they're going to be terrified, even if you're as loving as you can be? Yes, that's true. And it's incumbent upon us, as we are speaking the truth to them, to do it in as loving and kind a manner as we can.

We may have to be severe, as they're talked about here, but there's never a place for brow-beating and shouting and angry countenance. We need to back away from the situation and immerse ourselves in prayer and be ready to confront the person sternly but in kindness.

And so that it makes it even more possible for them to respond properly.

Not that they will.

If they're a believer and if they're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, there's going to be possibly resistance to begin with. But they're a believer. The cool thing about the Holy Spirit is he's at work in every believer's life.

And we can, he who began a good work in you will do the best he can to complete it, but he may not. No, he will complete it in the day of Christ. So we can have confidence that as we are approaching this situation biblically, God will redeem the time and he will work in their hearts.

And so, possibly be ready for the response of a guilty conscience. And we don't know how many of these people were believers and responded negatively or positively, and how many were unbelievers. But we do know the false apostles, which he's later going to call in 2 Corinthians 11, he's going to call them the super apostles.

You know, they probably wore capes and everything. But the more stringent parts, so let me start over here. Very likely the false apostles that accused him of being abusive and over authoritative based on the severe letter.

These were character qualities that they themselves were guilty of. Paul had no desire to terrify people into obedience. The more stringent parts of his letters were specifically designed to address disobedience and unbiblical activities.

And remember, they asked questions. They asked questions as well. The Corinthians knew that, they knew that. And this letter would serve to bring that back to their remembrance. This letter, 2 Corinthians.

Earlier, he told the Corinthians that he wanted to die together and to live together with them. And in the first chapter of this epistle, he told them about the back and forth that happened in his heart as he wrote that letter.

I didn't, I felt awful. He was actually saying it was hard to write that letter. He said that for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears. And I don't think Paul speaks just metaphorically in this.

He actually probably agonized over that letter, that severe letter. I, I can, I can, I can, I can relate to this. I've had to deal with people that I love dearly and that were on the wrong road, and it's hard.

And it breaks your heart sometimes to say what, to, to. I've actually written stuff out. I can't say that.

Write it out. No, I can't say that.

And show it to Mark. No, you can't say that. Okay. So, so I thought I could say that. No, no, you can't. And, and that's how it should be. I don't know how many rewrites the first letter went, this, this severe letter went through, or how many.

It'd be really expensive to crumple up papyrus and throw it away, but, but at any rate. Holy Spirit. Well, we don't know about the second, the severe letter. I'm sure he did, but it's not canonical. We don't have it.

But at any rate, Paul was a human instrument that the Holy Spirit used, and his anguish of heart came through. Comes through here. And we're also going to see that Paul, it's nice that God. Nice. It's appropriate that God uses human instruments that are fallible, that are easily hurt sometimes.

And Paul was hurt. He was actually emotionally torn by some of the things that were going on here. We'll see that later on. And we've seen it before. So, the back and forth. Out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote you with many tears.

And he later begged them to, he said, make room for us in your hearts. Please, make room for us in your hearts. That's a quote. Paul was marked by compassion, by care, and by love. And he only used his authority in a disciplinary manner when it was absolutely necessary.

And that is as it should be.

That is as it should be. When discipline has to be brought, it should be when all other effects, effectual methods, scriptural methods have been exhausted. And then discipline must be brought. You don't want to wait too long because it is said, especially of those of unbelievers, well, most of unbelievers, that when sentence against an evil act is delayed, I'm trying to remember this, then the hearts of men are fully set in them to do evil.

So, it's important that you don't wait over long. And so, Paul wrote the letter. He saw it happening and he wrote the letter.

It was delivered.

And then remember later when Timothy brought him news, back and forth, he's back and forth in chapter 7, 8, and 9. And Timothy, 6, 7, 8, and 9, Timothy brought him the news.

And the news was good.

The severe letter was responded to. The false apostles didn't respond to it. They called him abusive and authoritative. But the Corinthian believers responded to it. And so, he was delighted by that. So, any questions about verse 9?

That was quite the introduction.

The False Apostles Judge by Appearances and Compare Themselves with Themselves

Verse 10, for they say, now who's they?

Who do you think they is?

The people in the Corinthian church, especially most notably the false apostles. Those who are trying to undermine his authority. When people come behind a spiritual shepherd's back and speak against him, what's your responsibility?

Have you talked to the shepherd? Have you talked to this person? And I, the Lord has worked on me over the years. There's a proper way to respond to that and a proper, not a proper way, I had a woman come into the church, to the church, to the store one time years ago, complaining about a local pastor who was a godly man that I knew.

And she started, and I said, um, stop, stop. She goes, what? I said, have you talked to him about this?

I wouldn't talk to him.

I said, well, then you can't talk to me. Shut up. The second two words, the last two words were a mistake. And I know that now.

She didn't buy anything.

She walked out. Don't say shut up. I was good when I said, you need to talk to him first. I should have finished there, but I didn't.

Well, she shut up.

But you know what? I had no more influence there. I lost any influence I might have had in restoring that situation. So always be looking for ways to do things in a biblical manner. I was biblical up to the last two words,.

And then I blew it.

And so it was wrong. But that's what you do. Have you talked to the person? Have you gone to the person? Matthew chapter five, Galatians chapter six, Luke chapter, I think, seven. Have you gone to the person?

That's the first thing.

I don't think the false apostles went to Paul. They just started bad-mouthing him. So here's what they say. They say, well, and here's how they would say it, with their nose in the air and with a sneer.

His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible. Now, remember the Greeks, highly prized, beautiful oratory. Remember Demosthenes, the guy that stuck all the rocks in his mouth so he could talk, right?

That was a weird thing to do,.

But apparently he had a speech impediment or something. They really prized delivery and rhetoric and scholarship. The Holy Spirit prizes those too, but above all, the Holy Spirit prizes truth, the truth.

So here we see some of the charges, one of the charges leveled by the false teachers against Paul. They mocked his appearance. Yeah, okay, they're up there, good. They mocked his appearance. We have no biblical description of Paul's appearance, and I believe this is intentional on God's part because we humans always find a way to look at the outward far more than it ought to be looked at.

But there's an interesting document that dates back to the first century that seems to describe him and is corroborated somewhat in the fourth century. And based on the hints we have in the New Testament, it may very well be true.

So again, his personal appearance is not necessarily important, but what these guys were doing was they were mocking him because they couldn't undercut the scriptural teachings that he was bringing forth.

It's very interesting that God very often uses those least attractive to the world to be the most powerful deliverers of his message. So this information comes from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

Let me see where we're at.

We're, this is gonna be kind of a collaboration here. I gotta find out where understanding is. See if I can understand what I'm doing. Thank you for your patience. Can you see what number that is? Okay, so we need to go back to,.

Where am I?

And then we'll be rolling right along. 191. So there's no reliable description. This is from the International Standard Encyclopedia of the stature and looks of the Apostle Paul, although some ancient documents speculate about it.

There is a description from a book that is not in the New Testament. The Acts of Paul and Thecla have a portraiture thus. Behold, bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, a man small in size with meeting eyebrows and a rather large nose, full of grace, for at times he looked like a man and at times he had the face of an angel.

And Ramsey, one of the historians, adds, this plain and unflattering account of the Apostle's personal appearance seems to embody a very early tradition. And in chapter 16, he argues that this story goes all the way back to a document of the first century.

So Ramsey does argue that. In some respects, it harmonizes with what we gather from Paul's epistles. Findley, which from Hayes Bible, Hayes, HDB, Hayes Dictionary of the Bible, there we go, Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, notes that this description is confirmed by the lifelike and unconventional figure of the Roman ivory diptych.

And I had the picture and I thought, I'm not gonna bring it, it's an interesting picture. Didn't to me match what they're saying here, but I'm not much of an artist, so. So this is supposed to date to not later than the fourth century.

And at Leicester, the natives took Barnabas for Jupiter and Paul for Hermes because he was the chief speaker, showing that Barnabas had the more impressive appearance while Paul was his spokesman. So that was an early impression that we see from the Book of Acts as well.

Neither was Paul the accomplished order like many of his contemporaries, such as Apollos. And Paul freely admits his lack of rhetorical skills, next rhetorical skills, next 192, yeah. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

And don't you appreciate it when someone doesn't try to be really clever up in front of you, they just give you the truth so that you can actually understand it. And they don't use a whole bunch of metaphors and a whole bunch of similes and all kinds of, just tell me the truth, please.

And then in 1 Corinthians 2, it says, and when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Our faith must rest on the power of God, not in smart speaking. It must rest on the word of God, not in oratory or in rhetorical skills. It must, and Paul knew that, and God knew that, and God chose Paul, and who did the most work in establishing the New Testament church?

This bow-legged, bald-headed guy with meeting eyebrows and a big nose. So you closed your eyes while he was talking, who cares? The word of God came out of his mouth. In truth. Interestingly enough, the false apostles acknowledged that his letters were weighty and strong, but having no biblical grounds to condemn the theology of his letters, they went straight to an ad hominem attack, ad hominem attack, and isn't that always how it is when those who have no facts seek to argue and put those who have the truth down?

One commentator noted the tendency humanity has to judge the outward thus. He said, like so many who judge things according to the outward display of this world, Paul's opponents interpreted meekness as weakness, forbearance as cowardice, and gentleness as indecision.

Or at least, they had sought to induce the Corinthians to place this interpretation on Paul's character. Never mistake meekness for weakness, forbearance for cowardice, and gentleness as indecision. Those first three character qualities that are posed against the negative ones should characterize a shepherd in the church of God.

They should be meek, they should be gentle, they should be forbearing. If they are weak, cowardly, and indecisive, you'll know. And you won't have to mock their bow-leggedness and their baldness. Finally, this verse helps us see that Paul often struggled with some of the same things that everyone struggles with.

He was genuinely hurt by the criticisms that were being leveled against him because they were so untrue. And isn't it true for the most part that only those closest to us can truly hurt us? Nevertheless, Paul adhered to the Savior's admonition that if one wants to be great in the kingdom of God, they must be the servant of all.

And remember, the word servant is the word doulos, which means bond slave. It doesn't mean a paid butler. It's the guy who cleans up after everybody else's mess. And so again, if you have shepherds who are not willing to pick up the shovel to clean the bathroom, they're not proper shepherds.

They need to be fully aware of their standing before God. And as a person becomes more and more cognizant of what the scripture teaches, we should become more and more cognizant of our own weaknesses and failings.

Because only Christ is perfect. Only Christ is perfect. These guys thought they were perfect and that Paul was a dummy. How far off they were. His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal appearance, impressive.

His personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible. Thank God for unimpressive, contemptible shepherds who bring the word of God, who bring the truth of God. Any questions about verse 10?

Comments? I guess we're not done with verse 10. I got carried away on verse 10. Not, it is not this way among you, Mark. Jesus said in Matthew, the Savior said this. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your bond slave, your servant.

And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life for many. Robertson's word pictures of the New Testament gives us some idea of what lengths those in Corinth went to in their attempt to both hurt Paul and damage his reputation, 193.

Next slide, yeah.

They say, they say, this charge quotes, Paul quotes directly, weighty and strong. These adjectives can be uncomplimentary and mean severe and violent instead of impressive and vigorous. The adjectives bear either sense.

His bodily presence, this is certainly uncomplimentary. The presence of his body. It seems clear that Paul did not have a commanding appearance like that of Barnabas. He had some physical defect of the eyes, possibly, Galatians chapter four, and a thorn in the flesh that he talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and we'll get to that someday.

In the second century acts of Paul and Thecla, that's the one we just talked about, he is pictured as small, short, bow-legged with eyebrows knit together and an aquiline nose. A forgery in the fourth century describes Paul as the bald-headed, hook-nosed Galilean.

However it may be, his accusers sneered, however that may be, his accusers sneered at his personal appearance as weak, his speech as of no account, and the Corinthians, some of them, cared more for the brilliant eloquence of Apollos and did not find Paul a trained rhetorician, and it's spoken of in those scriptures.

He made different impressions on different people. Seldom has anyone been at once so ardently hated and so passionately loved as St. Paul. At one time it says he seemed like a man and another like an angel.

He spoke like a god at Lystra, but Eutychus went to sleep on him. I forgot about that. Went to sleep so soundly that he fell out of a window and I was killed. Jim's now, I don't think, Jim has to worry about that.

You just can't top that.

That's what I'm saying.

And we're gonna have a real thick pad under our rug at some point, yeah. Evidently, Paul winced under this biting criticism of his looks and speech, and wouldn't we all, wouldn't anyone in here wince.

If people, when people do that, when they say that kind of thing, when they bring those kinds of criticism, it hurts.

Paul was hurt.

He was a human being, and he was hurt, but he followed the admonition of the Holy Spirit. He remained a servant, and he remained in control of himself. Now, there's times when Paul, we know that he and Barnabas had a dispute that later on, John Mark comes back.

John Mark and Barnabas and Paul went separate ways, and later on, they came back, and then Paul later on speaks highly of John Mark. But at times, it just hurts when those closest to us, who should know better, speak unkindly about us.

This is the response you need to have. You continue to serve. You continue to bless. You continue to bring God's word. Any comments? Now, verse 10 is done. Verse 11, let such a person, those people who say his letters are weighty and impressive, but his appearance is disgusting, and his speech contemptible, let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also indeed when present.

So he intends to make them well aware of the fact that when he has to come and speak to them, you think my letters were bad? Those of you who are disobedient to the word of God, I will bring discipline to you.

He will do that. This pointed verse speaks directly to the false apostles in Corinth. Can you imagine, as that's being read, the people in the body who had repented and who had correctly followed scripture, they go, he's not talking about me.

But those who in the body who he was talking about would have followed one of two paths. They would have either repented at that point, come to repentance and turn back to Christ, or their hearts would be fully set in them to do evil.

And there were plenty of those, plenty of those whose hearts were fully set. So Paul was throwing down the gauntlet to them and saying, when I get to Corinth, you will see for certain that what I write and how I deal with people in person are the same.

When I am absent and write a difficult letter, it is only for your good, and I would say the same things to you in person. Be aware of that concept. Never, never, never hide behind a keyboard and write to somebody something that you would never say to them in person after much prayer and reflection and concern and study.

Don't do it.

It's harmful.

It's always gonna be harmful. Never, never write what you wouldn't say in person. Plus, then it's memorialized for all eternity. Especially if it's on, well, letters or on the internet. There's been times when I had to say something to somebody and I called them.

It was far more important to call them and say it, first of all, or I tried to get together with them. First thing, do as much as you can to meet in person. Today's technology, call them. I would be very cautious about putting this kind of stuff in a letter, because we're not apostles.

Sorry, NAR. They all died out in the first century. We're not apostles. We're weak men and women just like everybody else. Hopefully, we're following scripture, or most importantly, we're following scripture.

So, and that you will see, he says, that what I say, what I write, I will say. When I come to Corinth. This warning becomes even more pointed in chapter 13. Remember, from 10 to the end of the chapter now, he's defending himself and he's challenging and he's bringing some things to bear on the Corinthians that they needed.

He says in 2 Corinthians 13 too, I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone.

Is that a good enough warning?

When I get there, everybody's gonna die. That's not quite what he said. But basically, he's pointing out to them that he will do what is necessary to purge the church of God of those who are bringing dissension and disunity and error.

And it's not just error. All the error, what error is, is it's destructive. Whether it's a little error or a big error, because if people base their ideas on a small error, they're gonna come to probably some logical conclusions about that, but they're gonna be just as wrong and maybe even more wrong with the wrong information to start with, with bad information to start with.

Paul is letting the false apostles in Corinth know that he is not to be trifled with and that he will bring justice where it is needed. Any comments about verse 11? Pray to God that we don't have to be in that position.

What a delight it has been to serve in this body where everybody is serious about the word of God. The Holy Spirit, he is present when people read and do. He is present in your lives in a magnificent way.

Measuring by the Standard of Christ, Not by Ourselves

Verse 12, for we are not bold. This is beautiful sarcasm. For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

So, I'm just as good as that guy. That guy just killed seven people. Well, okay, then this, you know. Now, with the remarkable application, with a remarkable application of irony and sarcasm, Paul deals with the false apostles' claims.

Clearly, they were measuring Paul according to their own standard, and that standard was themselves. No one measured up to what they could do. They were remarkable people, and they knew it. All you had to do was listen to them, and they would tell you that.

They believed their own press releases, as it is said today, and so Paul uses the very word that they accused him of not demonstrating in person, boldness. He would not stoop to comparing himself to those who had set up the standard as themselves.

What is he to compare himself with? The word of God. Will we ever measure up to the word of God? Will anybody in here ever measure up to the standard that God requires? I wish, but if someone thinks they have, as I'm trying to think, Ben Franklin had this series of character qualities that he compared himself to, and one of them was humility, and he was at least astute enough to recognize that if you got to the point where you said, yeah, I was pretty humble today, you just blew it.

That is something that only others can judge in us. These false apostles were not. It's actually pathological to compare ourselves with ourselves or to even compare ourselves with others. Sometimes we tend to see others in an improper and uninformed light.

Their lives seem perfect, and ours, blemished and difficult. We see a family photo on Facebook of four smiling siblings, two delightful parents, and a gaggle of giggling children, unaware that the final photo took seven hours to get to because of all the fighting, squabbling, and discussions that the family struggled with.

We make many assumptions like this. This can destroy contentedness. I think one of the most important character qualities a Christian should have is contentedness. We should be content with what God has brought us.

Not that we aren't always looking to better ourselves in understanding God's word and maybe fix that bathroom that has a leaking toilet. That's not what I'm talking about. But we should be content with what God has brought into our lives.

Because if you're not content with what you have, you'll never be content with what you want. You never will. So, we make many assumptions like this. This can destroy contentedness. God is pleased to deal with each of his children in an individual manner, in an individual way, and the things that he allows into their lives are perfectly suited for their growth and sanctification in becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.