Full Restoration

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice!  Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace.  And the God of love and peace will be with you. ~ 2 Corinthians 13:11

And just like that Paul gives the Corinth church, and us today the exhortation that if we would be of one mind we could all live in peace.  But what is “one mind”?  It doesn’t mean that we all have to agree on the same thing, but rather that we would all try to be Christ-like in our thinking towards each other.  We would be pleasantly peaceful if we had Christ-like forward thinking toward each other as it would force a servant-like and compassionate, empathetic attitude toward life to grow our faith.  Having the same priorities aligns people; to remember what matters most in life promotes healing. Today, just like back in the Corinthian church, there is much division in our churches, communities, politics and I dare say, our own families.  But when we put our pride to the side, and our personal preferences to the side to serve others as we imagine God would serve them, well, something special happens.  When we recognize that life is about others and become the workers of God, we change, people change and circumstances change.  The gift of grace Christ has given us is the same grace He expects us to give others; undeserved merit.  Undeserved favor.  Undeserved anything and everything.  You have to be willing to give as Jesus gave.  To give selfishly and to pray that Gods’ will be done in everything.  We are called to rejoice, encourage, and shower everyone with grace and live peaceably.  This Christ-like way of life would not only bless all of us, but bring much glory to God.  Be humble. Pray God will fill you up daily; to see this world and love these people as He would want you to; and when you do this, you will feel complete joy, peace and satisfaction with your own life no matter the circumstances because there is no greater feeling than being used by God.  I know God wants the best for me….so I will trust Him and serve Him.  I will rejoice, encourage and strive to see others with Jesus-like eyes. ~ Amen