The AMI QT Devotionals from May 15-21 are provided by Pastor Barry Kang, who heads Symphony Church in Boston. Barry, a graduate of Stanford University and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Sunny (an amazing worship leader, chef and math wizard). They are the proud parents of Caleb and Micah.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR TODAY
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Everybody has a thorn. Your thorn is that place in your life where you feel most vulnerable or broken or defeated. You don’t want to talk about it; you’d like to pretend it’s not there. Paul says that he pleaded with God three times to take his thorn away. This was not a casual request. Paul poured his heart out before God, but the heavens were silent. We’ve all been there.
But then God speaks. He says, “Paul, I have something for you better than pain removal. It’s grace, and it’s sufficient for you.” This doesn’t sound like a great deal—until we remember what grace is. Grace is the offer of God’s ceaseless presence and wasteful love. Grace is God’s active, seeking, reaching, stretching presence in your life, enabling you to live as God wants you to. When Paul encountered grace, he stopped asking for thorn-removal! Instead, his thorns became a reason to boast because it had led him to grace. May the sufficient grace of God pour into our lives!
Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for your sufficient grace. There is nothing like it! We know we don’t deserve it (almost by definition), but we still try to earn it. Please forgive us for doing that. May Your grace become more and more of a reality in our hearts and lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Deuteronomy 12
LUNCH BREAK STUDY
Read Hebrews 10:12-14-31: But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Questions to Consider
- How far-reaching was the effect of Christ’s sacrifice?
- What does v.14 tell us about ourselves as believers?
- In what ways can the sufficiency of God’s grace give you comfort today?
Notes
- Christ’s sacrifice is “for all time.” This means, once and for all, Christ has paid the penalty for our sin. This is grace—grace that brings forgiveness, once and for all, for all time.
- 14 tells us that through Christ’s offering of Himself, we have been “perfected for all time.” This is the sufficiency of the grace of God—that though we are still “being sanctified” we are also perfected. God’s sufficient grace is the power behind our growth and the power behind the righteousness given to us through Christ.
- Sometimes, guilt can pile on so strongly. The enemy will tell us that we are not good enough, or too sinful, or unworthy of God’s grace. But His grace is not about us— it’s an unconditionally-given grace that perfects us. In our weakness, let’s remember the strength and sufficiency of God’s grace for us!
EVENING REFLECTION
Tonight, let’s say this over our lives: “God’s grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in my weakness.” Let’s lay down our weaknesses before Christ, acknowledging that His power is what matters, because His grace is sufficient.
Let’s begin this morning by making sure that we not miss Paul’s main point: he is not trying to inform the Corinthian church about how much he has suffered for the gospel. Rather, he is using ironic rhetoric to demonstrate the absurdity of boasting. In verses 30-33, he will cap this remarkable litany of sufferings with a boast of how he once ran away from potential persecution!
“There is no such things as a free lunch,” my high school economics teacher loved to tell us. Many of us, over the years, have learned to become skeptical of anyone who will offer to give us something for free. “What’s the catch?” we wonder. The Corinthians, under the influence of “super-apostles,” were wondering why Paul labored as a tent-maker if this message he had was so valuable. If what is being offered is truly valuable, then it ought to cost something to the receiver.
Early in our marriage, Sunny would sometimes forget to wear her wedding ring. One time, she was in a grocery store shopping for groceries, when a good looking man approached her saying, “Excuse me, you look like you know how to cook.” She realized that this was a very sweet but clumsy pick-up line. As she told me this story afterwards, we laughed about the incident. I could laugh because Sunny had given me little reason to actually be jealous. I also sternly told her to wear her wedding ring from that time on!
If you have been following the NBA (National Basketball Association), there has been a notorious character flooding the sports news – Lavar Ball, the father of UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball. He has been making outrageous claims that his son, without being drafted onto a NBA team, is already better than Stephen Curry and Michael Jordan. More recently, BBB (Big Baller Brand), Lavar Ball’s apparel company, released Lonzo’s shoe to be valued at $500. To give readers some context of the situation, only NBA super stars release their own shoes, not undrafted college players. Even when NBA super stars release their shoes, they are at most $300—not $500!
If you have ever run a race at a track meet, you know that you are confined to your lane, which means you are not allowed to step outside of the lane assigned to you. If you do, you get disqualified. These lanes are there to keep you from hindering other people from running their race as well as to keep you safe.
Tennis has always been a large part of my life. I started learning how to play when I was 7 years old and spent majority of my time training for tournaments. I became obsessed with the game and would spend hours watching professionals play. One thing I noticed is that professionals in the top 30 are equal in skill: they all can hit serves at amazing speeds, have great footwork, and their forehand and backhand are fluid. However, what separates the top 5 from the rest is—their mental game. The reason why Roger Federer was able to hold his no. 1 position for years was because he had a strong mental game. Yes, he would get frustrated, but losing a game wouldn’t hinder him from finding a solution to beat his opponent. At the core of it, tennis is a mental game.
In my family, gifts have always been an essential part of a celebration; whether it be Christmas, birthdays, or anniversaries, my wife and I make sure to put lots of thought into what kind of gifts we get each other. However, between the two of us, my wife is much better at choosing gifts; she can figure out what I like and do not like, without making it very obvious that she is asking. Since we have been dating, I’ve never been disappointed in the gifts she has given me—I can’t say the same for her.
The AMI QT Devotionals from May 8-14 are provided by Emerson Lin. Emerson, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, serves as a staff at Kairos Christian Church, while studying at Talbot School of Theology. He is married to Annie.
In the 1984, my father immigrated to the United States from Taiwan with my mother, to study Computer Engineering at San Jose States University—he wanted a better life for his wife and his future children. So when my father became a United States citizen in 1985, he had to give up his Taiwanese citizenship. He explained to me that while becoming a citizen had its benefits, it was also very complicated: he had to learn everything that came with becoming a citizen such as jury duty, taxes, and different business policies. Additionally, he had to adhere to the laws and rules that came with becoming a new citizen.
Last week, a deacon and I went to East Asia to serve at a retreat. Since we arrived a few days earlier, we were able to spend time with the local church leaders. During lunch time, we met with a group of leaders to hear how God was working in the church—it was a time of laughter and encouragement. But once the bill arrived at our table, we started to bicker back and forth over the bill, and each time, the church leaders would tell me, “Just accept love.” While I was frustrated with not “winning,” I was incredibly encouraged to see how eagerly they wanted to bless us with their finances.