"Finally, brothers, good-bye. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." II Corinthians 13:11-14
I think in these final words written to the Corinthians, Paul is worn out. Yet he summons beautiful truth to capture his deepest heartfelt desire for them.
You know, I really like the Life Application Bible. Some of the things I share in these devotionals are quoted and gleaned from the notes on the verses at the bottom of every page. Right now, I am at a loss for words, but the notes express exactly what I think is the point of much of what I have been writing and preaching lately. So I quote verbatim from my Life Application Bible notes found on page 2110 that refer to verses 11-14.
(I quote) "Paul's closing words--what he wanted the Corinthians to remember about the needs facing their church--are still fitting for the church today. When these qualities are not present, there are problems that must be dealt with. These traits do not come to a church by glossing over problems, conflicts and difficulties. They are not produced by neglect, denial, withdrawal, or bitterness. They are the by-products of the extremely hard work of solving problems, just as Paul and the Corinthians had to hammer out difficulties to bring peace, so we must apply the principles of God's Word and just not hear them. Paul was dealing with an ongoing problem in the Corinthian church. He could have refused to communicate until they cleared up their situation, but he loved them and reached out to them with the love of Christ. Love, however, means that sometimes we must confront those we care about. Both authority and personal concern are needed in dealing with people who are ruining their lives with sin. But there are still wrong approaches in confronting others, and these can further break relationships rather than heal them. We can be legalistic and blast people away with the laws they should be obeying. We can turn away from them because we don't want to face the situation. We can isolate them by gossiping about their problem and turning others against them as well. Or, like Paul, we can seek to build relationships by taking a better approach--sharing, communicating and caring. This is a difficult approach that can drain us emotionally, but it is the best way for the other person, and it is the only Christlike way to deal with other's sin." (End of quote)
I think I may be at a loss for words today because I am emotionally drained. In Him as always, Pastor Fred
Posts
I happened to be having an emotionally drained day as well as of this morning, and in the midst of my seeming defeat, I cried out to God for help. "God, I know you see things I don't and that's enough, but can I just see SOMETHING?" I said with alligator tears running down both cheeks. In under two minutes, He gave me two breathtaking signs from above that He was indeed listening and absolutely helping. Since that time, I became encouraged and willing, yet somehow I still felt drained. However, drained though I may have felt and still feel, He picked me up off the floor (literally, I had been on the floor!) and gave me the strength and energy I needed to carry out the tasks He had for me to do. I'm drained, but empowered; beat down, but not broken. I'm reminded after the emotionally draining morning and week I've had that I truly CAN do all things through His strength (Philippians 4:13) and praise Him for that because my own strength is so very small.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pastor Fred, this devotional came to me at a very profound time.