To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 7:13 “We rejoiced . . . at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.”

One of the signs of a healthy church is the effect that that church has on those who visit it.  We see this in the verse above which speaks of Titus’ visit to the church at Corinth.  Titus had been blessed by what he had seen in this church.  Although they had had many problems, things that Paul had addressed in his first letter to them, they had truly repented and their lives reflected the work that God had done in their lives. Rather than be a source of discouragement and grief, which was indeed true of them when Paul wrote his first letter, they were now a source of comfort and joy.  It was a great contrast, a demonstration in this one group of people of both what a church should not be and what it should be. 

Because a church is made up of imperfect people, the fact that there are problems in many churches should come as no surprise.  But things can change.  If those in a church will take seriously the Word of God, as the church at Corinth did when Paul wrote to them with words inspired by God, they can be changed from a poor example to a wonderful one.  As the Word of God does it’s work like a sharp two-edged sword “piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12), it will have a transformative effect on the inner man.  God’s Word, when it is preached and listened to will expose such things as pride, lust, greed, and other sins that proceed from self-centeredness, and lead to repentance and a transformed heart. The result will be lives out of which “flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38), the very thing that Jesus promised those who will come to Him and drink.  It’s the same message that God gave to Israel through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55 with the following words: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” 

So, do you want a life that is life-giving itself? Do you want to be a person who brings refreshment to the lives of others and be a part of a church that does the same? Then listen to God’s Word.  Allow it to do it’s work in your life.  Allow its truth to fill your heart, for it’s “from the abundance of our heart that our mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). 

May God help us to be people like those in the transformed Corinthian church, bringing refreshment to the spirit of others as the living water of the Spirit of Christ flows from our lives into theirs.