2 Corinthians 13

Paul makes a final appeal at the conclusion to this second letter to the Corinthian Church, "Examine Yourselves". The appeal follows a stern warning:

"On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier, or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me."

And later:

"This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down"

I am old and experienced enough now that I understand it is better to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ". Take time to examine your thoughts and actions. Put them under the microscope. What is driving your behavior? What are your motivations? Once we peel back the layers of excuses and rationalization, they may not be as pretty as you thought.

Paul calls us to "Aim for perfection". Notice he doesn't say "be good" or "try and do better", but "Aim for perfection". We know we cannot acheive it in this life, but we are called to set a high and lofty goal. To have a goal like that, and to try and attain it, we need to self examine, to take our thoughts captive, and to strive for perfection. The alternative is to be caught in our sin, and to be held accountable, in which case we are in for harsh treatment (v10).

Let's take Paul's advice - Examine ourselves, take every thought captive, be of one mind, live in peace. If we do, then we have a wonderful promise - The God of love and peace will be with you.

Prayer:

Lord, I am weak, and I fail way too often.
Help me to keep a watch on myself.
Help me to invite others to hold me accountable.
Help me to aim for perfection.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
And the love of God,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
Be with you all.
Amen

2 Corinthians 13 The Message (MSG)

He’s Alive Now!

13 1-4 Well, this is my third visit coming up. Remember the Scripture that says, “A matter becomes clear after two or three witnesses give evidence”? On my second visit I warned that bunch that keeps sinning over and over in the same old ways that when I came back I wouldn’t go easy on them. Now, preparing for the third, I’m saying it again from a distance. If you haven’t changed your ways by the time I get there, look out. You who have been demanding proof that Christ speaks through me will get more than you bargained for. You’ll get the full force of Christ, don’t think you won’t. He was sheer weakness and humiliation when he was killed on the cross, but oh, he’s alive now—in the mighty power of God! We weren’t much to look at, either, when we were humiliated among you, but when we deal with you this next time, we’ll be alive in Christ, strengthened by God.

5-9 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.

We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.

10 I’m writing this to you now so that when I come I won’t have to say another word on the subject. The authority the Master gave me is for putting people together, not taking them apart. I want to get on with it, and not have to spend time on reprimands.

11-13 And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello.

14 The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

  Rob Gibson | Elder

Rob and his wonderful wife Helen were born in England, married in 1987. They moved to the USA in 1996, where they have lived since in California, Massachusetts, and Texas. They have 6 lovely children, Sarah, Claire, Nic, Laura, Jacqueline and Victoria, all of whom were homeschooled. Rob gave his life to the Lord in 1987, at the same time that Helen rededicated herself. Rob has been on a number of mission trips to Costa Rica, has led vacation Bible schools, soccer ministry, small groups, children’s and youth ministry, acted as lead program manager during the Hutto church plant, and is currently Chairman of the board of Directors at Camp Wilderness Ridge. Rob works at the Sears Call Center as Director of the Technical Solutions Group. Helen is an experienced homeschool mom, and is involved in children’s and small group ministry.