Verse of the Day: “Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.” - 2 Corinthians 13:11
“Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words”.......This is the final chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. So many gems are covered in this book, however, Paul does a great job of summarizing what he wants from the believers. When you read the following action items, you can’t help but see the heart of Christ over all of them.
“Be joyful”.........The world says for us to be happy. God wants us to be joyful. There’s a big difference between being happy and being joyful. Happiness is situational. Joy is as solid as concrete. No situation can take away the joy of the Lord. Joy is an inner feeling. Happiness is an outward expression. Joy endures hardship and trials and connects with meaning and purpose. We can pursue happiness but we must choose joy. Philippians 4:4 says to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Paul writes in Romans 15:13 - “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Jesus says in John 16:24 - “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” David writes in Psalm 16:11 - “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” As you can see, joy is God’s design.
“Grow to maturity”.......I like the sentence structure here. Paul doesn’t say to BE mature. He says to GROW to maturity. Which lets us know that maturity is a process. It’s something we have to constantly work at. Speaking of growth, Jesus’ parable of the seed on good soil is a great representation of how we can grow to maturity - “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Jesus lets us know that we have to not only hear the word, but we must retain it (action) and persevere (action) in order to produce a crop. This is how we grow to maturity in our faith. These crops produce fruit, which allow us to do the following.
“Encourage each other”.......one thing our world needs more of is encouragement. There is always something to be sad or fearful about. Just turn on your local news channel or browse Twitter for more than 15 seconds. There is no encouragement like Holy Spirit encouragement. And when we receive it, and allow it to overflow in our lives, that’s when we can take that encouragement and give it to others. The Bible is ripe with verses about encouraging others. Here are a few:
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” - Ephesians 4:29
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” - Proverbs 12:25
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” - 1 Peter 4:8
Love and encouragement go hand in hand. Jesus says the two most important commandments in all of the Word are to love God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Encouraging others helps us to love God and love our neighbors.
“Live in harmony and peace”.......In a broken world, it’s difficult to live in harmony and peace. Turn on the news tonight and count how many stories detail hate/violence versus harmony/peace. I am confident the scale will tip in favor of destruction. But thank God we do not belong to this world, right? We are commanded to live at peace, not only here, but more than 100 times in scripture. A few examples of those verses are below.
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” - Romans 12:18
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” - Matthew 5:9
“When a man’s way please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” - Proverbs 16:7
“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” - James 3:18
We must make peace and live in harmony. If there is any dissension in your life today, settle it. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Allow the peace of God to calm your heart and clear your mind.
“Then the God of love and peace will be with you”..........As I mentioned last week, God told me last year that His peace cannot be activated without an intentional act of trust.
The items above are all intentional acts that show we trust in the Lord. If we didn’t trust in God, it would be difficult for us to forgive those who have wronged us. The world, and Satan, who is the god of the world, wants us to constantly be at odds with everyone. If we trust God, then we know that our actions of forgiving our enemies and loving those who hate us, will be rewarded in Heaven.
This fills us with a peace that the world cannot bring. We can’t expect to have God’s peace in our lives if we are doing nothing to create within ourselves and others.
If you are lacking peace today, ask yourselves these questions. Am I being joyful? Am I doing anything to grow to maturity? How many times have I encouraged someone lately? Have I done anything recently to cause unrest or disruption in someone’s life?
The answers to these questions will help you determine if you are taking the steps necessary to receive the peace of God. His peace is the key as we choose joy and pursue harmony in a world that wants anything but it.
Worship Jam of the Day