Instructions for Life

How many times have you either said or heard, "If only someone had told me!!!"  We lament because disaster could have been averted if only we knew.....if only we had that hindsight as foresight when we needed it most.  Life seems full of surprises and we react to a situation because we are caught off guard.  In the circumstances that matter the most, we should be proactive and not reactive, yet are we?  Think about your relationships, your life circumstances, your faith.  Have you ever made that exclamation I stated above?  If only.....

I have good news for you!  Contained within scripture are instructions for life that will aid us in avoiding disaster and guide us through difficult situations.  Actually, the entire Bible will serve that purpose.  However recently I came upon a single verse that in its simplicity is often overlooked.  Please allow me to share it with you.  2 Corinthians 13:11 Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.  Paul is closing his last letter to the Corinthian church.  The preceding verses as well as the first letter were filled with instructions as to how to live a Godly life and witness to the world who Christ is.  When you are saying goodbye to someone and you are not sure you will see them again, you want to be sure that your last words summarize your most important thoughts.  Paul tries to capture the essence of walking out our faith in these few words.  Not only did they  apply to the Corinthian church, they apply to us today.

First, Be Joyful.  We have so much to rejoice over.  As Christians, our salvation has been bought by the blood of Jesus, but even greater than that, the veil is torn and we now have access to the Throne of God Himself.  We get to commune with Him, dialogue continually, celebrate as He dances and sings over us.  We get to call him Abba, Poppa, Daddy, whatever nickname you use in intimacy with Him.  We exchanged our yoke for His, a lighter, easier one.  Our future is with Him.  We have surrendered control of our lives to Him and get to serve Him out of love and not mandated performance.  Our joy is what should attract others to a relationship with Him.  No matter what our circumstances we should be joyful.  James 1:2  Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  The apostles had significant troubles as they faced increasing persecution from all angles.  Yet because of their joyfulness in spite of those circumstances, the number of believers grew exponentially.

Second, Grow to Maturity.  We are not to be content with standing in the threshold of salvation.  Once we accept Christ into our hearts, we have walked through an open door.  However if we are content to stay there, we will never know the bounty that the Lord has waiting for us in the kingdom.  First please acknowledge that the Kingdom of Heaven is here now within each of us.  Study out the words of Jesus and you will know that this is truth.  However, if a believer is not growing daily in maturity through the Word and through time listening to the Counselor, Holy Spirit, then that person is stuck in the doorway of faith.  We are called to transformation and that only happens through growth. Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. As I wrote 2 weeks ago, once we become believers we are no longer of this world and we are expected by the Lord to change and not just changed once, but changed daily as we grow in the maturity of our faith. 

Third, Encourage each other.  We are the body of Christ together.  Not a single one of us is complete without being connected to the rest of the body.  We must look to our brothers and sisters within the body and lift one another up.  If we allow one part of the body to collapse, then it impacts all of the body.  We are not self-sufficient.  Have you ever been encouraged during a rough time by a brother or sister in faith when your own "blood" family would not support you?  I know that it happens all of the time.  God has created us for relationship and once we become part of the body, we are responsible for maintaining healthy relationships within the body.  There is only one way you can survive being set apart (which we are all called to be once we accept Christ).  Survival is achieved when you are connected to a life-giving, life-affirming body.  Isolation is not an answer that comes from the Lord.  Isolation is a strategy of the enemy - isolate then destroy.  It is a predator strategy that you see carried out in the animal kingdom daily.  Instead we are called to help and be with each other.  Hebrews 10:24-25 Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.  1Thessalonians 5:11, 14  So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy.....Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

Finally, Live in harmony and peace. Don't cause strife and division in the body.  Be mindful of how you live and invite the Shalom of the Lord to inhabit your circumstances, prevail over your life.  When we work to be of one mind in Christ, harmony is inevitably the result.  Does that mean that everything in your life is perfect?  Not hardly.  Jesus Himself warned us that many trials and tribulations would come our way once we picked up our cross to follow Him.  However it is amazing how peace will prevail in the midst of trouble when we choose to focus on Him instead of our circumstances.  I vividly recall in some of my most difficult moments in the past that people would ask how I could be so peaceful in the midst of the circumstances.  My answer was always the same: He gives me that peace and the assurance that this too will pass but His love for me never will.  Be a testimony to the world that His peace is what they too want.

Paul concludes with this promise: The God of love and peace will be with you.  Wow, that is powerful.  Follow these simple instructions for life and this is the promise of the Lord.  He will be with you and He is the God of love and peace not war and strife.  That is what I want in my life - today, tomorrow, forever.  Simple instructions ~ Incredible outcome.  Life - pure, simple, His way.  Embrace it!