My daily Bible Studies have just started 2 Corinthians. This is a natural progression from 1 Corinthians, however it’s not quite that simple.

It seems that Paul wrote the first letter after his visit there in order to answer some questions and address some issues. Things weren’t going well though, so he paid them a second visit. This was apparently ‘painful’, so much so that he did not immediately want to go back in case it caused more pain. So he wrote them a letter – one that we don’t have a copy of. This letter will have been something of a rebuke, written with much ‘affliction and anguish of heart’, but also out of ‘abundant love’. (see 2 Cor 2:1-4).

Apparently this had the desired effect. Many in Corinth repented and wanted reconciliation with Paul. 

In all of this, Paul had to change his travel plans several times. Firstly, in order to visit the Corinthians early than he had first planned, then to delay seeing them before returning a second time. 

Changing travel plans is something I’m very familiar with. Part of my job used to be to visit customers, and meet remote colleagues, so I was out and about quite a bit. But I went through a period when almost every time I went somewhere, something would happen. Trains delayed or cancelled. Fog preventing planes taking off. Customers or colleagues cancelling or unable to make meetings. Stations closed! It got to the point where I felt the need to tell others in the office that I was going to be travelling as a way of forewarning them of problems to come. I’d ring home and simply say to Julie “it’s happened again”, and she’d know what I meant and just say “well I’ll see you whenever you get back”!

So I can identify with Paul’s having to change his plans. In his case, though, he was accused of insincerity as he didn’t stick to what he’d said he would do.

But Paul’s response was that he was not insincere. In fact, he was constantly doing what was best for them. And here’s the thing – he did so because of God’s faithfulness to his promises.

In other words, Paul did what he did because of who God is and what he has done. He could relate something as mundane as travel plans back to the character of God.

Back on my early days of being a Christian, I made several ‘resolutions’. One of them was to get to a point in my life where everything I did was based on the Word. Like several of my other resolutions it was not fully thought out, but the sentiment was good. I’m certainly not claiming I’m anywhere near fulfilling it, but it’s always stuck with me as a goal.

Paul seems to have got closer as we’ve seen.

And, in case you’re thinking that he was a special case, being an Apostle, James had something similar to say in James 4:13-15. Here he’s talking to people going about their businesses. Everyday life, not just ‘ministry’, that should be committed to God.

The study series I use has a section for each day called ‘Coram Deo’, which is Latin for ‘living before the face of God’. It’s effectively the ‘application’ section. Having studied what a passage says, what does that mean for how we live our lives? It’s about relating the Scriptures to our everyday lives.

And that’s the point – everything we say, do or think is done ‘before the face of God’; done ‘in his name’ (i.e. in a way that honours him) and with thanks. See Colossians 3:16-17.