8/19

2 Corinthians 13:11

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Paul concludes his letters to the Corinthian church with these bullet point exhortations:

* Rejoice! The second fruit of the Spirit is joy (Galatians 5:22). If we are praising God for all His goodness to us, we are less likely to be whining about our differences with one another.

* Aim for restoration by continuing to hope and pray that those who leave the fellowship of believers by falling back into sin will be restored. While we don't condone their sin, we don't stop loving them. A truly repentant believer will not mind extra restrictions placed on them because of their weaknesses.

* Comfort one another. We all go through times of difficulty when we need the understanding compassion of the family of God. We all need loving encouragement to keep on keeping on. Remind one another of the promises of God, and share how the Lord pulled you through a trying time.

* Agree with one another and live in peace. Look for our common ground instead of focusing on our differences. Set aside our right to be right and try to understand why our brother or sister in Christ has come to the conclusions they have drawn.

The promise connected with obeying these final notes is that the God of love and peace will be with us.

Consider: As we do God's will, His presence and power is there to help. We will reap from Him the goodness we have sown into the lives of others.