We end our time in 2 Corinthians with this meditation from the next to last chapter:

Paul’s philosophy of life and ministry:

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? (2 Corinthians 12.14 – 18, ESV)

“I seek not what is yours, but you.” That’s a good word and a rebuke to, for example, televangelists who do want what is mine. “I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls.”

Instead, we were gentle among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. (1 Thessalonians 2.7, 8, NIV)