Day 51
The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 2 Corinthians 4:4 MEV
Minds. Our souls. For the body and our spirit belongs to God who made us. Through our minds, we hold the body accountable, our born again Spirit aiding us. This is how the born again believer functions. What the God of this world does is deceive and take away the faculty that is the mind by blinding it to the truth that we are ultimately lost without Christ.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his recompense in the body, according to what he has done, whether it was good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10 MEV
An excellent reason to be blameless before God by renewing our minds and by confessing our sins. Of course, forgiveness of others plays into this. Flee youthful sins and petty politics.
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 MEV
The scripture that saved me.
What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he who believes with an unbeliever? 2 Corinthians 6:15 MEV
(From my notes) Belial is a term occurring often in the Old Testament and applied, as would seem from the context in I Sam. x. 27; II Sam. xvi. 7, xx. 1; II Chron. xiii. 7; Job xxxiv. 18, to any one opposing the established authority, whether civil, as in the above passages, or religious, as in Judges xix. 22; I Kings xxi. 10, 13; Prov. xvi. 27, xix. 28; Deut. xiii. 14, xv. 9; II Sam. xxiii. 6. A somewhat weaker sense, that of “wicked” or “worthless,” is found in I Sam. i. 16, ii. 12, xxv. 17, xxx. 22. The etymology of this word has been variously given. The Talmud (Sanh. 111b) regards it as a compound word, made up of “beli” and “‘ol” (without a yoke). This derivation is accepted by Rashi (on Deut. xiii. 14). Gesenius (“Dict.” s.v.) finds the derivation in “beli” and “yo’il” (without advantage; i.e., worthless).
Belial is a compound word, believed to have been taken from the Hebrew beliy, meaning “not,” and ya’al, meaning “profit” or “benefit.” It is used twenty-six times in the Old Testament, usually translated as “worthless” in the New American Standard Bible, but also as “base,” “destruction,” “rascally,” and “wicked.” In the earlier books of the Old Testament, when describing a wicked person, the King James sometimes uses “son of Belial” (or “daughter,” “man,” or “people” of Belial). Like many other uses of the term son of, the expression “son of Belial” doesn’t imply that Belial is a real person who fathers children; rather, it’s a description of people characterized by worthlessness or corruption.A less accepted theory is that belial comes from beli ‘ol, meaning “without yoke”; the definition would remain about the same, however: a “son of Belial” would be someone who is “lawless” or “rebellious.”Either way, the Old Testament uses Belial as a personification of evil, not an actual entity.
Day 52
Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything. 2 Corinthians 7:16 MEV
This is something that I did not see the value of until the recent past. As a legacy, I do not seek an earthly memorial, but that the eternal work that is the Gospel continues through reliable men and women in whom I have absolute confidence in, that the truth will be uncompromisingly told. In this I rejoice, that I’m beginning to see this happen.