Psalm 131: A quieted soul is a contented soul. It is a soul that is within itself rather than flitting and fluttering around trying to find fulfillment in a decaying world. If we hope in the Lord, we are content in our place, our person, and our hope that is through Jesus Christ. He gives us peace, confidence, and contentment.

II Corinthians 11.16-33: Paul plays the fool to counter the foolishness of his opponents and those desiring to follow them. Nothing less than the heart of the gospel is at stake. In playing the fool, he highlights how the world has gone mad. In his willing to be a fool for Christ, he seeks to realign the world of the Corinthian church to sanity - which is when Christ occupies the center of our lives and our churches.

II Corinthians 10: We are reminded of the war that the Christian is involved in, which is a spiritual battle against deceit and evil. The battle is ultimately about the exalting the name of Jesus Christ above all things. Paul guides us to think about how we wage that war and with what weapons we fight.

II Corinthians 9.6-15: As the apostle Paul encourages us to generous living, we are reminded that God works through our obedience to produce a bountiful harvest of righteousness. We first must be reminded of God's generous nature toward us and trust that our generous acts toward others will contribute to God's grand plan of his good kingdom.

II Corinthians 7.2-16: Paul shows us how to live in the spiritual tension of sin and the pursuit of righteousness. We cannot find peace through a therapeutic glossing over of sin, both individual and societal. We must face sin in ourselves and in the world. But we confront it in ourselves through our salvation in Christ. And we confront it in the world through the ethic of love, as we seek to model God's righteousness and teach it. Our world seeks comfort by denial of sin. We seek comfort by addressing it through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.