2 Corinthians 13:11 –
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.
Do you ever get done talking with someone and want to keep talking. This is what Paul seems to be doing at the end of this letter. It’s so difficult to focus on one or two points without wanting to add more stuff in. I do it all the time when I am with you two, I want to make sure I have told you everything I can to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes I have throughout my life. I find myself many times regretting I did not teach something correctly, but at the same time I realize my parents did an awesome job downloading correct information, I decided to ignore it much of the time and learn for myself.
I this final statement Paul raps up being a Christian in a single verse. First be happy, that is infectious and shows God’s love easily to others. Now at the same time don’t be plastic and put your church face on all the time. People tend to see right through that. I have found my joy is dependent on my finances, which are still in shambles. Once I realize it’s beyond a week to fix and just keep working in a positive direction, I have peace and am happy. Next we must grow in maturity with God. Really the only way to do this is through study and prayer. If you cannot do it on your own, get a partner or small group to dive in with. This is not a Sunday only exercise, but a daily one. For me I had to start getting up an hour earlier, otherwise I allowed the day to consume me.
Next Paul wants us to encourage each other. Now that is not encouraging each other to stray from God’s path, but to support each other to remain on that narrow path. We all tend to drift in our walk and to have someone there to nudge us in the right direction is necessary. As we encourage each other Paul asks us to live in harmony and peace. It’s easy to do when we are encouraging, but once we start to correct the defenses rise and harmony disappears. Hence why I believe Paul did not say correct your brothers. Next time you try to fix someone else, try to word it as a positive.
Finally, if you do all the above the God of love and peace will be with you. That I disagree with to a point because we can be complete pains and God is still with us. He may not be happy or easy to see, but He is always here. Even when I was in a spiritual “winter” and look back I can see God’s finger prints all over my life. Even when we follow Paul’s instructions and are living a pure life, we have times when God is “in the shadows” and not easily seen. This is not a time to go into depression, but know that God wants us to dig a little deeper to find him. If God was always easy to get a response from I guarantee we would so quickly take it for granted and not appreciate it. The key here is to do what we know we should, and know that God will be with us, then we will have peace with God’s love.