II Corinthians 7:1 - “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

The “promises” to which Paul referred are those from God, first recorded in Leviticus 26:12 and Exodus 4:22 (see Isaiah 52:11), and quoted by Paul in the three verses immediately preceding this reference. Because God has chosen the church to be His peculiar people (6:16), and because He has made Christians even His sons and daughters (6:18), all Christians should clean out of their lives all filthiness. The word means defilement and the actions that cause it, and its grammatical form here tells how a thing is done. The thing that is done is the obtaining, or increasing, of holiness. Christians mature in Christ - grow more holy in the judgment of God - by cleansing from the flesh and the spirit those thoughts, words and actions which differ from God’s pattern and separate them from Him. And they do all this “in the fear of God.” Fearing to be outside the mercy of God - fear of falling short of His glory (Rom. 3:23) - motivates the faithful Christian to grow up in Christ, which we must do if we are to obey God and please Him (I Peter 2:1-3). What is there in your thoughts or habits that could stand a little cleaning today?

II Corinthians 11:28 - “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”

Paul had recalled five lashings, three beatings and a shipwreck that he had experienced in service to Jesus Christ (24-25), and then listed 16 points of additional physical distress that had been his for his preaching of the gospel. Then here he says that his investment in the ministry of the word wasn’t all in the visible realm: there was the daily care of all the churches. The word translated “care” indicates thought to the point of distraction. Every day Paul thought of those churches he had planted, those others he had visited, and even some he had not yet visited (Romans 1:13). His passion for the well-being of those churches apparently was so strong that it tended to turn his attention, at least to some degree, from other responsibilities and opportunities more immediately before him. Paul’s purpose in writing of these things was to show the sincerity of his faith and the service of his apostleship. That being the case, we are reminded of his earlier admonition to the same church: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Cor. 11:1). If the sincerity of Paul’s faith was evidenced in part by his “care of all the churches,” shouldn’t there be in the sincere Christian today that “care” at least for the local church in which he serves God? And then what of God’s children everywhere? How much do you think of the church each day?