Categories
Band

The Fullness of the Deity – Colossians 2

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:9-12

The first statement, in verse 9, is pretty amazing, if you really consider what it is saying. As Paul writes to the Colossians, he says that God himself is present in Jesus. That means that we have had God himself walking around on the earth. God comes and speaks with people. The disciples and the people of that time walked with God. They spoke with God, face to face. We even have the words of Jesus written in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, meaning that we have the words of God himself as he spoke to the people.

From there, Paul says that we have been circumcised by Christ. This isn’t a circumcision performed by human hands, but a circumcision that is done by Christ, throwing off the old flesh, which is buried as we are baptized and instead giving us a new life as we are resurrected, just as Jesus was raised from the dead.

Categories
Commentary

The Greatest Value

Jesus told a parable of a man who found a treasure hidden in a field and a businessman who found a precious pearl. Here are the stories:

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-46

Personally, I think these are some of the most important verses in the Bible. I think it speaks to what we value and shows us how we can make the Word of God very practical as we live our daily lives. Let’s walk through these one step at a time.

First, Jesus is specifically talking about the Kingdom of God. He isn’t speaking of our faith, our salvation, or anything related to us. He is speaking about God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom is what the man found hidden in the field and what the merchant found as he was looking for fine pearls.

Given that, we should take a moment to understand what we are talking about when we speak of the Kingdom of God. We are not speaking of a physical location here on earth or any type of geography. Instead, we are talking about the lives of those people where God reigns. Those who have submitted themselves to the King.

And who is the King? Jesus said that God has given him all authority in heaven and on earth, thus making Jesus the King over all kings, reigning in his Kingdom over all kingdoms. There is no higher authority than Jesus. He is King and sovereignly rules over all things.

So as we look back to the parable, we see that the first man sort of stumbles over the treasure in the field. He wasn’t necessarily looking for the treasure but he found it nonetheless.

Meanwhile, in the case of the pearl merchant, he was looking for a pearl of great value. He was searching, and he eventually found what he was looking for.

But in both cases, both for the man who found the treasure as well as for the pearl merchant, they recognized the value of what they found. What they had found was worth everything that they owned. It was worth their home, their vehicles, their other investments, and all of their possessions. Nothing should be held back, nothing should be retained. Instead, they knew that they must obtain the treasure and the pearl that they had found because these things were worth the price that they were paying.

Jesus is saying that this is how God’s Kingdom operates. There are some who stumble onto the Kingdom and others who are specifically looking for it. But the one who finds it gives up everything that they have to obtain it.

Is this just a metaphor? Do we just metaphorically sell everything to get the Kingdom? How does someone do that?

There are many ways that we could rationalize away what Jesus says here in these parables, but it seems very clear that the Kingdom of God should be seen as having the greatest and highest value over everything in our lives. There is nothing – our possessions, our family or friends, our status in life, or anything else – that should have a higher place than that of the Kingdom. Jesus tells us these parables so that we will understand that it is worth it all, that to obtain and live in the Kingdom of God is of the highest and greatest value, over everything else.

Categories
Commentary

Awesome, Terrible, and the Meaning of It All

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been in the middle of reading Romans 9, 10, and 11 during our “Bible time” with my family. We read a little bit each morning and just talk through what we have read as we eat our cereal, or in the case of some of my kids, last night’s pizza or pasta…yummm…???

As we’ve read some of these passages and discussed them, I’ve found myself wondering: Have I been paying attention to what the scriptures say as I’ve read them previously?

And so then I began wondering further: Am I the only one who hasn’t been paying attention to what these scriptures say? Or are there a lot of people sort of reading lightly and skipping over it?

Or is this just the nature of reading the Word of God, that we continue to see new things along the way?

Paul’s Anguish

Alright, so enough of the preamble. Let’s get to it in Romans 9. Paul starts the first section worried about the Israelites. He says:

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

Romans 9:1-6

Paul is sad because the Israelite people are being rejected and will not continue to be God’s people. He says that he is sorrowful and has unceasing anguish in his heart for his people. He even wishes that he could be cut off and cursed from Christ if they could be accepted again. But, he knows and says that not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

What does that mean – not all who are descended from Israel are Israel? The term “Israel” can be used in a few ways.

One is the man himself, Jacob, who was renamed “Israel”.

The second way would be the reference to his physical descendants. We might also call them the Jewish people, those who physically descended from Jacob.

And the third way would be a more direct reference to God’s people. The people with whom God has made a covenant to be their God and that they would be his people. These are also referred to as Israel.

So as Paul says that not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, he is saying that not all of the physical descendants of Israel (the second way we can refer to Israel above) are considered to be Israel, the people of God (the third way we can refer to Israel).

But how is that possible? Aren’t the Israelites all the people of God? Or at least they were? Paul continues on describing how God has made choices along the way.

Through Isaac

Paul explains that God made a choice when he told Abraham that his covenant would be through Isaac. Of course, the implication is that the covenant, the promise, would not come through Ishmael. Here is what Paul says:

Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Romans 9:7-9

Of course, if we go back and look at this in the original story in the book of Genesis, here is what happened specifically:

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

Genesis 17:15-22

And so we see that God will bless Ishmael. He will prosper him on the earth, make him fruitful and have a large family, even making him the father of twelve rulers and to become a great nation.

But God says that he will establish his covenant through Isaac, not through Ishmael. This is a very key point because it creates a significant distinction between the two. What is the covenant that God is saying that he will establish with Isaac, but not Ishmael? God had actually said this just a little bit before in chapter 17:

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. ”

Genesis 17:7-8

So here we see that the distinction is that God will be their God and they will be his people, both for him and for his descendants. But the question is: Which descendants? In this case, God is specifically saying that the descendants of Abraham that he has chosen are those that come through his wife Sarah, that is through Isaac.

But what about Ishmael? What will become of him? We’ll come to that in a moment…

Jacob, not Esau

So Paul continues and explains the next generation after Isaac. Isaac marries Rebekah and has twins. This is how Paul recounts what God does in this situation:

Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad —in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Romans 9:11-13

Paul says it correctly, of course: Even before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, God shows that he has chosen Jacob but did not choose Esau.

So, hang on just a moment… We’re starting to see a pattern form, aren’t we? We’re seeing that God establishes his covenant that he will be their God and they will be his people, but through Isaac, not through Ishmael. And then we see that God chooses Jacob, not Esau. And in both of these cases, God does this before these sons are even born.

How could God choose Isaac before he was born? God hasn’t seen what kind of person Isaac is yet. In fact, in Isaac’s case, he wasn’t even conceived yet!

And in Jacob’s case, Paul says it directly that, before they either of the sons had done anything good or bad, God loves Jacob but hates Esau.

But doesn’t God’s love and mercy depend upon how we act? Or surely whether he accepts us not depends on whether we have faith in him, or faith in Jesus, right? Well, at the least, we can see that wasn’t the case for Isaac or Jacob. God declares his choice and his mercy upon them before they even had the chance to consider who God is in their lives, before they are even born!

Last example: Pharaoh

Paul now comes to the core question: Is God unjust? How can God love or show mercy to someone before they are even born?

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Romans 9:14-18

Interesting.

So Paul doesn’t leave it that God is making his choice and showing love and mercy for certain people. He goes even further! He uses the example of Pharaoh in the time of Moses where he says that God actually hardens Pharaoh’s heart because, through Pharaoh, God is going to display his power in him and make his name known across the entire earth. In fact, God says that he raised Pharaoh up for this very purpose. This means that God put Pharaoh in the place of the king of Egypt, in the time of Moses, hardening his heart so that the nation of Egypt would essentially be destroyed by the God of the Israelites, the slaves that the Egyptians held to build out their land.

Amazing. So in the case of Pharaoh, God made him to destroy him so that he could show his power and make his name known across the entire earth. Can that be true?

Paul is building up, through these examples, to show that God is sovereignly in control of all things, making his choices along the way. But why? For what reason?

The Riches of His Glory

So now let’s skip down to the last part for today. Paul is now going to reveal what God is doing and we come full-circle as well back to the original point that Paul made at the beginning of the chapter:

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Romans 9:22-24

Paul says that God is going to show his wrath and make his power known. He says that there will be objects of his wrath upon people that are prepared for destruction. And he does this for a reason:

To make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy.

So there are people that God has made with the specific idea that they are intended for wrath. And there are people that God has made that are specifically intended for his mercy. There are those that he has prepared for destruction and those that he has prepared for glory.

Of course, it goes without saying – but I will say it anyway – that God is doing this. Not man. It is God’s wrath and God bringing destruction, not man. It is God doing this to show his mercy. Not man. It is God who has, and even gives glory. Not man.

If we consider what Paul said earlier in verses 1-6, we can see that Paul is talking here about the Israelites. He said not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. So he is saying that the Israelites have been made such that they will be rejected, so that they will receive God’s wrath. But even this has a purpose: To bring in the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people into “Israel”, the people of God.

The Gentiles now are offered a place as part of God’s people. They will be the objects of his mercy and God is showing his mercy and grace to them so that he will be known throughout the earth and will be glorified as God!

So this leads me to one final question: If this is the reason that God is doing this, what does that mean for my life? It means that the entire purpose of my life is to reflect God’s glory back to him. My life is not my own. I was not created to do everything that I want to do. I was not created to be everything I want to be. Not my best self. Not my all. Instead, my life is intended to give glory to God.

God is choosing some, and for those that he has chosen, his plan is that we bring glory to him for the love and mercy that he has shown to us. We have earned nothing. We have nothing that we can boast about, either before God or in front of anyone else. We can only live our lives to bring him glory.

How to do that? Coming soon! 😉

Categories
Band

Shaping the Disciples – Mark 6

I noticed something new as I was reading through Mark 6 today, something that I hadn’t seen before.

In the early part of the chapter, in verses 7 through 13, Jesus had sent out the 12 disciples 2 by 2 to various villages around to preach and drive out evil spirits. They went out and did as Jesus told them to do and then came back to Jesus.

There is an interlude from verse 14 to 29 as Mark tells the story of how John the Baptist was imprisoned and eventually killed, but then he picks the story back up in verse 30 where it says that Jesus and the disciples didn’t even have a chance to eat because there were so many people coming and going from where they were staying. As a result, Jesus decides that, given that the disciples had just come back from their journey and that they weren’t able to eat or rest, they need to take some time away.

But it doesn’t work out. They get into a boat and leave, headed off to another place, remote location. But the people watch them from the land and run along the shore to where they end up landing.

When they land, the people are there and Mark says that Jesus had compassion on them. But I can imagine that the disciples might have been a little frustrated at that point. They were trying to get away to even be able to eat and rest after their journey, at Jesus’s direction no less, and yet all of the people keep crowding them and they aren’t able to do what they were hoping to do.

So now, there are thousands of people that have come to this remote location and it is getting late in the evening. The disciples come to Jesus to see if they can finally rest, saying that they want to send the crowd away so that they can go to eat, and Jesus says to them:

“You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

Mark 6:37

I feel like I can hear the frustration in the disciples’ voices, the weariness from their trip and the crowds, and now it seems to me that they are frustrated by Jesus’s insistence that they solve the problem of feeding thousands of people with really nothing in their hands.

I’ve heard people say many times that Jesus was testing the faith of the disciples, and ultimately showing them his power because they later picked up 12 baskets full of bread and fish, one for each disciple. And I think that is correct. But I think that, given the situation, Jesus might be doing something even more here.

Often, when we are at our greatest level of stress, feeling challenged on every side, feeling tired and not able to move forward well, we can truly see what is inside of us. Our social filters are worn down and we can frequently see more easily what is truly in our hearts.

In the case of the disciples, we do see that their priorities are different than that of Jesus. Jesus has compassion upon the people, but the disciples are ready to send them home. Jesus tells his disciples to feed the people, obviously knowing that they didn’t have food for thousands of people because they had just traveled to that remote area in a boat, but without thinking about what Jesus might be doing or teaching them, they immediately react indignantly.

So, I think that this situation was tailor-made, at least in part, to mold and shape the disciples. Jesus kept them on the move, teaching them through the situations to grow and become more like him.

How often does he do the same with us? How often does Jesus put us, his disciples of today, into challenging situations, to allow us to see what is truly inside of us and show us how he wants us to grow?

Categories
Band

Be Amazed – Mark 5

We have all had something happen that we were amazed by and told other people many times what had happened in that situation. But soon, we’ve told the people around us, and maybe, if we’re forgetful, we’ve even told the story several times to the same people who have either been patient with us or have told us that they have already heard this story one or more times previously.

In Mark 5, there are three stories that are truly amazing that, if someone told us today that they saw them happen, depending on how we react, we would either not believe them, or we would want to go see for ourselves!

Jesus drives a “legion” of demons out a notoriously well-known man in the region of Gerasenes, then he heals a woman who had been constantly bleeding for twelve years, and finally, he raises a little girl, the daughter of a synagogue leader, from the dead.

So we see three different types of healing: spiritual, as he drives out evil spirits; physical, as he heals the woman; and finally death, the most final of all sicknesses, as Jesus even overcomes the physical death of this little girl.

And so it is for this reason that, in this chapter of Mark 5, we see this type of statement two times:

Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

Mark 5:42

In truth, the miracles that Jesus is doing are amazing. No one has ever done anything like this, let alone in such rapid succession, moving from one person to the next, performing one miracle after another. And yet today, we can often say… Oh, yeah, hang on… I’ve heard that one before.

We’ve forgotten the fact that we are reading about God himself walking on the earth, offering healing from physical and spiritual ailments, but even overcoming death itself. We are so wrapped up in our own lives, in looking at all of the things that we are worried about, in our ability to get ahead, in our own issues and emotions, that we’ve forgotten that there is a God in heaven who came to earth in the form of Jesus to offer us hope. He gives us hope for healing in our physical bodies, in our emotional lives, and in our spiritual being, both now and forever. Jesus calls us into his Kingdom where we can live with him, our Creator, forever.

So let’s be amazed that these stories, while true for people more than 2000 years ago, can also be true for us today. They act as a promise for the hope and life that Jesus also offers to us – so be amazed!

Categories
Band

Turn on the Light – Mark 4

Mark 4 is a significant chapter in the work that I do these days. I am frequently meeting with believing Christians, trying to help them see that God designed their lives to be used for God, not for them.

For example, if we look in verses 1-20, Jesus talks about the four different soils and how the good soil is the only one that produces a crop. Not just growth and life, but a crop is produced from one seed. That one seed was used to bring in many plants to glorify God. I wrote more about this last year in this post: Am I Good Soil?

Later, in verses 26-29, Jesus talks about how the farmer scatters the seed, waits for it to grow, and then harvests a crop. We frequently talk about how this is a parable that speaks to how the Kingdom of God works, that God wants each of us to be like the farmer and harvest a crop to bring him glory. You can see more about this in the post and video on the Search Party website: The Four Fields

I think this chapter shows how Jesus is preparing his disciples to begin to do the work that he is doing. He is teaching them how the Kingdom works prior to taking them and showing them, which he will begin to do at the end of the chapter as they set off in the boat to reach the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee, the Gentile side.

In the midst of this chapter, Jesus explains to his disciples that they are like a light. Here is what he says:

He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Mark 4:21-23

Jesus’s disciples are in the same situation that we are in. In the midst of our societies, in the midst of our communities, it is not popular to follow Jesus. People will accuse us of many things – leaving our community’s traditions, acting morally superior to others, betraying our families, and so on – and so we feel that we want to hide, that we want to be tucked away without being noticed.

And then further, we listen to people who talk about how they were “called” by God to speak to others about Jesus and we assume that this means that, because we feel afraid or that we want to be hidden, that these other people must be the ones who really are “called” to be a light in the open, to speak to others. And so therefore, we end up reverting to ideas like, “Well, if I just live like a Christian, people will know. That is my way of sharing my light.“

But that isn’t what Jesus says here. He explains that you cannot put your light under a bowl or under your bed. It isn’t meant for that. You aren’t meant to be hidden. You are meant to shine and to bring light to others. You are meant to be disclosed and to bring glory to God. This is the call of God, that all are called to live the life that God has made within them, in public. Yes, in deed, but most certainly also, in word.

Categories
Band

Doing God’s Will – Mark 3

At times, I think that we have possibly read the Bible too many times because we miss what it can say. It seems to me that we frequently will read quickly over a passage and will determine in our minds that it has a particular meaning that is different from what it is actually saying. Here is one like that for me today:

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:31-35

Jesus draws a line with regard to his family, saying that he is not necessarily tied to his family by blood and he will not be dissuaded from his work just because the rest of his natural family thinks that he should be doing something different.

No, instead, Jesus is going to be about the work that God has given him to do, and those that are his mother and his brothers and sisters will be determined by those that are doing God’s will.

The part that struck me today was Jesus saying, “Whoever does God’s will…” as he referred to his family members. I think that, for me, I had it in my mind that Jesus was talking about those who weren’t sinning. I suppose if I were to rewrite what Jesus said with what I had in my mind, it would be something like: My mother, brothers, and sisters are those that are here with me, not sinning.

But of course, that is not at all what Jesus said. He said that his family are those that are doing God’s will. But do we know God’s will? Do we understand what God’s goal and mission is, what he has been doing and is still working toward to bring to completion?

If we do know what God is doing, and we want to be considered part of Jesus’s family, shouldn’t we also be doing these things? It seems that it is only in this way that we can be considered part of Jesus’s family. Otherwise, we can be left outside calling to Jesus, but he won’t respond.

————————————-

We have written a course on how we can know God’s will and how we can find the purpose for our life within God’s purpose and plan. You can see that here:

Finding Your Purpose in God’s Plan

Categories
Band

Get the Doctor – Mark 2

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:17

Jesus has no problem in entering Levi’s house, sitting with his friends, the tax collectors and the sinners, staying with them, eating and drinking together with them. But the Pharisees see what Jesus is doing and criticizes Jesus for being with those who need him even more. They are spiritually sick and need the doctor. And the doctor, Jesus, has come to make them well.

If only we, as the church, would take the same view as Jesus. We routinely say that we want to see the lost saved, but we take little to no action to do what Jesus did. We have not gone to share the Gospel, we have not made many, if any, disciples of Jesus, and we have not taught many, if any, people to make disciples of others. And what is worse, we instead stand in the way, creating special classes of Christians that can do religious works like baptisms or lead the Lord’s Supper.

And all that we have to do is to learn to go where the sick people are instead of keeping them collected in our hospitals.

Categories
Band

The Revolution Has Begun – Mark 1

OK, today is the day that we transition back into the Gospels, today into the book of Mark.

It isn’t abnormal for me because I am frequently thinking about the Kingdom of God and its level of relevance in my life, but as I read Mark 1 today, I’m noticing again that Jesus begins his public preaching with these words:

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Mark 1:14-15

This chapter seems to show Jesus bursting onto the scene. There are dramatic things happening everywhere he goes:

Jesus is baptized and the heavens open and God speaks audibly.

Jesus goes into the wilderness and does spiritual battle with Satan.

Jesus begins to put his team together by calling the first disciples.

Jesus starts driving out demons and healing people, creating huge crowds wherever he goes.

But in the middle of all of this, he also announces a revolution. The Romans control the Israeli land, and speaking against the Romans would result in death, but Jesus bursts onto the scene and announces a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is announcing a new Kingdom, but it is not a political kingdom. It is not a kingdom of this earth. It is one Kingdom to rule all other kingdoms and there is one way into it: To repent and believe. We call out to God asking for forgiveness for how we have lived without him and we move forward in belief and reliance upon the King.

In the Kingdom of God, Jesus is the King. Jesus said that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. We, therefore, live under a new authority, that is the Kingdom of God and the kingship of Jesus Christ.

Categories
Band

Strive for Restoration – 2 Corinthians 13

Paul has been writing to the church in Corinth, speaking to them about how they have had those that have been in sin but that he has been rebuking them, calling them to repentance, to unity, and to a demonstration of love for one another and toward Paul. Then, at the end of the letter, in verse 11, he says:

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:11

Paul had just told the Corinthians that they should examine themselves to see if they are in the faith, and that they should realize that, if they pass the test of their examination, they have Christ living within them! So now, he says that they should rejoice! They are rejoicing that, even though they have all of these problems that Paul has been addressing, they have Christ within them and God is moving mightily amongst them.

But the reason that I wanted to highlight this particular passage is what he says next. He say that they should strive for full restoration. Based on the context in that he says that they should encourage one another, be of one mind, and live in peace, I believe that means that he is speaking of restoration between the believers within the church. He says that they must strive to achieve this restoration. So often, we deal with discord through distance or anger, but the truth is that striving is required. To restore relationships, whether as a husband and wife, as friends, or even as brothers and sisters in Christ, it requires effort. It requires work. Blood, sweat, and tears. Probably a lot of each! Paul calls the Corinthians to strive to reach the point of restoration…something that I believe that he calls each of us to do within our relationships today.