“Finally, brethren, farewell.
Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God
of love and peace will be with you.” –1 Corinthians 13:11
I love this. Here we have Paul
finishing up his letter to the church in Corinth and this verse is the
beginning of his last words to them. It’s like this verse is him telling them
that if there is anything to remember in all that he has written to them, it is
these things. This is his final encouragement to them. He charges to them be
complete, be of one mind, be of good comfort, and live in peace. What does all
of this look like?
James tells us that it’s through
the trials that produce patience and we are to let that patience work in us and
through that we will become complete- lacking nothing. It’s that picture of
fullness- being genuine and being whole in all areas of your life. I want to be
complete in that I am the same person no matter the situation I am in or the
people I am around. Be of good comfort- some other translations read to comfort
one another. I want to be able to hand over my burdens to the Lord and let Him
comfort me and then in turn be able to help bear someone else’s burdens and
comfort them because Christ first. Be of one mind. I want to lay down my own
mind and opinion in order to take up that of Christ. The only way we will find
unity is to not look at others with our own eyes but look at them with the same
mind in which Christ looks at us. Live in peace. Live as one. Live together. And
in the end when all of these things are manifested together in someone’s life, it’s
in that place that the Lord has asked us to abide with one another. Lastly,
Paul tells us that the Lord of love and peace will be with you. There is no way
out of our selfish human hearts that we could do all of these things, however
the Lord never asked us to. It’s in HIS strength that we are able to live in
this manner with one another. The Lord makes us complete and comforts us and
it’s His mind and peace we are to take up.
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