A habit to pray

One of the characteristics of Paul’s letters is a prayer of thanksgiving offered for the recipients. Here also, Paul thinks of the Christians in Corinth and gives thanks to God. (1) The reason for his thanksgiving is that God had given them grace. Paul’s ministry had borne fruit, and by believing in Christ, they had come to a place where they were not lacking in any spiritual gift. (2) They were “enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” Both “speech” and “knowledge” were things that the Greeks eagerly pursued and highly valued. Paul deliberately uses these terms to emphasize that those who have believed in Christ are the ones who lack nothing, both in “speech” and in “knowledge.” (3) This prayer of Paul was a continual prayer that he offered regularly. Paul made it a habit to pray for the churches whose foundations he had laid. What do you take pride in as a Christian? If you are in Christ, you lack nothing in “speech” and “knowledge.”

God’s faithfulness

In the previous passage, Paul called the Corinthian Christians, who were burdened with many problems, “saints.” Here, it is declared that these saints will never be abandoned and that their salvation will surely be brought to completion. The reason is that God is faithful. By God’s faithfulness, we have been called, brought into fellowship with Christ, and will be sustained firmly to the end. What we need is faith. A faith that acknowledges and trusts in God’s faithfulness. Through that faith, our lives are transformed, sometimes dramatically and sometimes gradually. Now, let us reflect on God’s faithfulness and grace and offer a prayer of thanksgiving to Him.