12:6 - ... so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. - I like this verse. We should live not so that others can think too highly of us, but so that they will think the right thing about us. The hard part here is our fleshy nature thinks we are better than we are. We tend to overstate how important we are or how hard we work or what a great sacrifice we are making. The truth is we need to see ourselves honestly and we need to strive to help others see us that way. When someone praises you beyond your true ability or actions you need to take caution and maybe even help them see otherwise. Some of us are seen as heroes to others and it inhibits their ability to be taught. They figure you are so far ahead of them that what you are teaching is true for you, but could never be of them. Also, we make it so that others don't feel like they can rebuke us. Honesty would be a blessing to them and us.
12:9 - My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. - God loves to work through the weak so no one is confused about who is doing the good work. We hate to be weak! We choose to be seen as strong rather than to be used by God. What would happen in your life and faith if today you found your greatest area of weakness and asked God to use you there?
12:10 - ...For when I am weak, then I am strong. - It is true. When you can admit you have no strength God comes in to make up the difference. When you think you can work it out on your own He lets you and you and I normally fail.
12:14 - ...what I want is not your possessions but you.... - This is how I feel about The Oasis.
13:4 - For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
13:5 - Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; tests yourselves.... - We are called to examine whether we truly are IN the faith and not just near it. We have to be careful not to trust our feelings or our desires, but to test our faith against the word of God to see if we are who we think we are. There would be nothing worse than to get home to heaven and have Jesus say, You aren't who you thought you were. Leave.
13:11 - 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. - What a great call for those of us in the body of Christ. We should make this one of our rallying cries.
13:14 - May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. - Cool verse. Gets all three - God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit - in there and talks about grace, love and fellowship. I could see this being used as a blessing for people as they leave a Sunday service or a LIFE Group or something like that. Isn't it funny how weird many of us would think it would be to have someone bless us as we leave and yet how Biblical it is? I wouldn't want to hear the same thing week in and week out, but from time to time a blessing over the body would be really powerful.
Love, Michael
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