II Corinthians

True Commitment to Jesus

May 19, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

True commitment to Jesus comes with no strings attached. Luke recounts three men who came to Jesus professing their allegiance to Him (Luke 9:57–62), but none of them would end up following Him. The story shows no matter how strong your profession of faith is, it’s no guarantee of how strong your commitment will be. As Jesus said, “Many will come to me saying, Lord! Lord!” (Matthew 7:21), but He will say to them, “Depart from me because I never knew you!” (Matthew 7:23).

Anyone can say they love Jesus, but few are willing to prove that love. Almost everyone respects the person of Jesus, but they despise and revile Jesus as God. Why? Because loving an idea is easy, but serving the King means surrendering everything we once were. Humans gravitate to whatever is easy, but seem repelled by anything that impinges on their desires.

Don’t Go Incognito

May 12, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Wherever you go in life, don’t go incognito. You should never disguise the reason for your hope or the light burning inside you (1 Peter 3:14-15). Our purpose in life is to know and glorify God (John 17:3), so we have a responsibility to be His ambassadors in a world that doesn’t recognize Him (2 Corinthians 5:20). How will people hear about Christ if we won’t be bold and speak the name of Jesus everywhere we go (Romans 10:14)?

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The world at large will never darken the doors of a church, so we can’t rely on professional teachers to get the job done on their own. We are all called to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-16). That responsibility is not for a chosen few, but for the entire body of Christ.

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Who is Your Master?

March 24, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

No matter how independent we might like to think we are, each of us serves one master or another in this life. The only question is, who is your master? Peter teaches we are all slaves to whatever defeats us (2 Peter 2:19). We all have our vices and are subject to them at different points in our lives. Perhaps it would be better to ask, “What is your master?”

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But we can always trace the “what” back to a “who”. We know that all good things come from Christ (James 1:17) and that every lie finds its source in Satan (John 8:44). If we are slaves to certain lusts, desires, and passions, then our master is the devil (1 John 3:8). But if we keep ourselves pure and hold true to the gospel of Jesus, then He is indeed our Lord and Master (John 14:21; Romans 6:22).

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Sin

March 20, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Almost all our sins will fall into two categories. We sin because we are trying to make ourselves equal with God, or by refusing to be who God created us to be. Either way, we spend our days in rebellion, as both forms of sin deny God is who He says He is. When we make everything about us, we place ourselves on God’s throne.

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We deny the sufficiency of Christ and fall into sin when our desires overrule our surrender and our wants become needs (James 4:1-3). This has been the story of mankind since the Garden of Eden as our pride and selfishness usurp God’s authority and drive a wedge between us and our Creator (Genesis 3:4-6; Romans 1:21-23).

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Game Plan for Your Life

March 13, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

All sports teams devise a game plan for their opponents. Every general draws up meticulous plans before going into battle. Unless you have a game plan for your life, you will wander through it, stumbling about, and never becoming the person God created you to be. That’s tragic. Imagine facing your King and having to explain why you didn’t accomplish the work He gave you to do in the time He gave you to do it (2 Corinthians 5:10).

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We will all be without excuse (Romans 1:20). Praise the Lord, He has not left us without guidance here. He gives us a complete game plan by which to live. In just a few verses, Peter lays out the entire plan.