Those Parenthetical Times

In 2 Corinthians chapter eight Paul is discussing the parenthetical times in a believers life. It seems the previous year these Corinthians had promised financial help to the poor saints at Jerusalem. But because of circumstances, either of their own making or for reasons beyond their control, they had not finished what they had started. The apostle’s advice to them was to perform what they had begun.

Certainly, if this truth teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that once we have commenced upon a worthy task, and for some reason are interrupted, we should be resolute in our determination to finish it at the first opportune time. Good intentions at the beginning should not be an excuse to release us from our obligation of picking up where we left off before the interval entered in! If it was worth starting, it’s worth finishing,

Our father Abraham, in whose steps we are to follow, left us an example of a parenthesis in a child of God’s life. He started for Canaan, but there was a ten year parenthesis in his life; nevertheless, as soon as the cause was removed he was back on the road to the Promised Land again. I love how the old King James records it, “…and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”

Richard the Aged

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