II Corinthians 13:1-14
Paul finishes II Corinthians on a loving note, with a benediction that we have used for years in the Christian Church: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (v. 14) But I think we say “…our Lord Jesus Christ…” instead of “…the…”. More personal!! Also, surprisingly, I just loaded today’s worship service video – today is Trinity Sunday!! How timely is that!! GLORY!!
Paul gives us some good advice: Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? (v. 5) Examine ourselves. Test ourselves. It’s a good exercise, to ask ourselves where we are in the Lord. Not only where we are, but also where we are headed… Those of us reading this are an older crowd. It would be easy to ask ourselves, “Is this it?” Are we content being where we are in life? Or should we be asking, “What’s next?” Where would you have us go, Lord? What would you have us do? We’ve all got years ahead of us. Let’s use them for His glory!!
Finally, after nearly two months we have finished Paul’s Corinthian letters. I would encourage us to go back through both epistles, just reading the subtitles and headings in our Bibles, reminding ourselves how much we have covered in these two letters – how many topics Paul has touched on, how much advice he has given us, and how much theology he has presented. No doubt we know Corinth better that we ever have from our prior readings. Now on to do the same for Romans…!!
Slava Bohu!
What good advice, “examine yourselves . . .”!
Tim T. seemed to be telling us the same thing this morning. We need to keep ourselves constantly renewing our openness to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
Corinthians has been fun. On to Rome!
I too focused on v. 5, examine yourself to see if you are living by the faith. Deepening awareness of Christ’s presence and power in our lives. Glory sightings. Fred, I like your question, what’s next, Lord?