The apostle Paul didn’t always have it so easy. Besides jail and the life-threatening situations he faced, Paul also wrote: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:24–28, NKJV).
What we see in his letters to the Corinthians is some of the “deep concern” that Paul had for this church. Yet, amid it all, his love for them never failed, just as Christ’s love for us never fails us. In fact, it was from Jesus that Paul learned to love the churches in a way that reflects the love that Jesus has for us (2 Cor. 5:14; see 1 Cor. 11:1).
Thought question: What motivates you in all that you do, especially when you do it in the name of Jesus?