The apostle Paul wrote powerful letters. Each one ends with a benediction that goes far beyond “yours truly” and is packed with amazing truth and amazing challenges. The verse in my devotional this morning is one example. 2 Corinthians 13:11 says, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
As I read and reread this verse, I can see how difficult obedience to God would be if I had to do it all by myself. For instance, the first sentence seems simple enough, but Farewell is translated from a Greek word that also means rejoice and it is translated that way in some Bible versions. Reading it as rejoice makes it a command—something like the song, “Don’t worry, be happy.” However, the biblical idea of rejoicing isn’t a mindless, forget all your troubles, empty-headed kind of happiness. It is a joy that bubbles up even during great trials (James 1:2-4 even says to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials . . . ”) This joy is evidence of Christian maturity. Try making that happen by myself? No way!
In 2 Corinthians this command is close to the next command, be complete, which makes me think this is what Paul intended in this benediction to this letter. He was telling the church at Corinth to rejoice and be complete, mature, perfect in the sense that they were developing Christlike character and virtue. Obeying these simple commands is no easy task. It takes a lifetime to learn trust to the extent that trials do not erase joy but actually produce it because I’ve learned that God is at work in that trial to make me complete.
Be of good comfort isn’t easy either. Last week’s murder of Emily Stauffer, daughter of a pastor in a sister church in our province, filled me with sorrow. I didn’t know her and yet was deeply affected, even wondering if I was feeling God’s grief over such a horrible event. Comfort comes, but every Christian knows that true comfort is from God. Even if people say and do kind things for those who are grieving, I know that I cannot produce it or make it come to me. God is the author of comfort.
Be of one mind might be the most difficult. In my church there are people from many backgrounds, nationalities, cultures and languages. We have an ESL class with students from Latin America and various parts of Asia. Our congregation includes senior executives and people who are currently unemployed. We have babies, children, teens, young adults, young married couples with and without children, widows, widowers, and a few who are more than eighty. How can this diverse group of people be of one mind?
God allows differences of opinion on many things but when He comes to live in a person’s heart, He brings with Him certain foundational truths. These are the things that God commands us to be of one mind about, but this unity goes beyond doctrine. We are to be of one mind in the sense that we are all listening to and obeying the same Spirit. If He is telling us the direction our church should take, it will be the same message to each person, so being of one mind can only happen if each person is listening to the Holy Spirit. This is a most amazing experience. It happens in our worship, in our business meetings, in our decision-making. God can produce unity in diversity. I could never make that happen.
Live in peace. Here is another impossible command. This means getting along even if I don’t agree with someone. It also means having peace in my heart, not being annoyed, irked, uptight, or feeling anything that is not peaceful. Of course I cannot make this happen. I’m not a vegetable and I do have responses to events and people. When someone does something that doesn’t seem right to me, or that hurts others, that peace is supposed to rule how I react. I’m not to respond to life’s events and difficulties with wrangling, arguing, grumbling or complaining. While God might ask me to do something about evil, and may give me a sense of how He feels about injustice, His peace is supposed to prevail in my heart.
That is the key; it is His peace, not mine or the world’s variety of peace. It is also His unified thinking, His mind, His comfort, His rejoicing, His power to make complete. This life is not my own. Not only have I been “bought with a price” but I cannot live it in my own strength either. I need Jesus, even to obey a simple benediction.
1 comment:
Thanks for this!
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