Rachel Starr Thomson

In the midst of a very busy week, hence the relative quiet around here: marking papers, finishing a manuscript edit, writing The Advent, rehearsing Behold the Child, formatting a new Irish book, and running Soli errands takes up a lot of time! But there’s always time for thought . I’ve been reading II Corinthians this week (an epistle from a very busy man, the apostle Paul), and am struck by this mark of his lifestyle:

And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation . . . or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation . . . For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. (II Cor. 1:6, 4:15, emphasis mine)

It’s humbling to realize how much Paul lived for others. Yes, everything he did was ultimately for the glory of God, but he realized that serving God meant building up the church. “For we preach not ourselves,” he declares in 4:5, “but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

Paul was a single man who traveled, wrote, and struggled privately just like we all do. Yet he saw his whole life as service to the church, and he believed that even his afflictions and consolations were ultimately for others, not just for himself. In that, he shared the heart of Jesus Christ, who lived an intensely human life and died an agonizing death — for the glory of the Father, yes, but also for us.

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