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READ: 2 Corinthians 1:12 NLT
‘We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you.’
Life isn’t always easy. It certainly wasn’t for Paul, whose ministry often came under vicious attack. I have always found his relationship with the church in Corinth particularly painful because this was a church that he had helped to establish. He loved them passionately and was desperately eager for them to grow and thrive in the Lord. However, time and again they were a great disappointment to him. But it got even worse when they started making cruel and totally unfounded accusations against him.
Nothing is harder than people accusing you falsely. It can easily happen, and it is so incredibly painful. When you know in your heart of hearts that you have acted out of love and concern, it is agonizing to be accused of acting out of self-interest. Paul’s response is that he is absolutely convinced that he has acted in the right way towards God. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what other people make of his ministry. What matters is what God makes of it, and Paul is utterly convinced that he has ministered in the right way.
I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of church leaders over the years and I have often seen them being accused by others. It’s always painful and difficult. What happens in those moments is that it is easy to focus on the detail of the accusation. But what matters most is that we stand before God and assess where we are before him. If we are, like Paul, convinced that we have acted in a way that is honouring to God then we should give thanks and enjoy the peace which God gives us. It is still appropriate to answer our critics, but we will be doing so not in our own strength and wisdom but in God’s.
QUESTION: What would you do if you were falsely accused?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank you that you don’t leave me when times are hard. Help me always to respond to criticism with grace, wisdom and love. Amen.
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