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. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. - 2 Corinthians 13.11-14
I think I have mentioned before how much I like looking at the closing words of the New Testament letters. 2 Corinthians is no exception.
Be complete
Be of good comfort
Be of one mind
Live in peace
And if you do that the God of love and peace will be with you.
Paul goes on to cover a couple of other things, but I want to focus on these last instructions on how believers can know the presence of the love and the peace of God.
Paul gives four simple ways that the Christians in Corinth can find live for Christ and enjoy the blessings of living for Him.
Paul says that we are to be complete, or perfect as the old King James translation put it. Our constant goal should be pushing on towards maturity and completeness in our spiritual lives, and our goal actually ought to be striving for perfection.
We ought to find great comfort in our days of trial. We live, as the church has always lived, in troublesome times. It is easy to find ourselves in great discomfort in these days, but the God of peace is the source of all comfort. Instead of discomfort with the world we must live in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Then we need unity. Instead of the division that corrupts the church we need to find our unity as we are all one in Christ.
And finally we are to live in the peace that only Jesus Christ can provide.
Isn't it amazing how so few words can say so much? Just think if we could take this four principals and make them a part of our life today.
Be complete
Be of good comfort
Be of one mind
Live in peace
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