United, not Divided

“Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Cor 13:11)

In this verse Paul was writing to the church as a whole in Corinth, and when he was exhorting them to be like-minded, he was talking to them as a church that they would be of one mind. According to Barnes Commentary, “They had been greatly distracted, and divided into different parties and factions. The sense is, that Paul desired that dissensions should cease, and that they should be united in opinion and feeling as Christian brethren.”

What struck me this morning was not only does this verse speak to how we need to be united towards one another as believers, but for how many of us can be double minded about things within ourselves.

• God tells us that we are not to be double-minded, and calls those who are “unstable” (James 1:8)
• We have conflicting thought patterns in the sense that all of us have thoughts that run “against the knowledge of God.”

We are to destroy those arguments and “take them captive to obey Christ.”  (2 Cor 10:5)

But I don’t always do that, and if I do, it seems like it’s not right away – I allow them at times to run around in my mind instead of taking them captive right away, and speaking the Word of God over them. I know this is the thing to do, but my mind sometimes seems to have a mind of it’s own!! Just when you think there is one thing nailed down, something else pops up! It is and will be a constant battle as long as we are alive as we live in a sinful and fallen world. 

Today I choose to walk in faith, carrying the sword of the Spirit to take out the thoughts that would seek to cast doubts in my mind and to plant thought seeds that will grow into thought patterns running contrary to the knowledge of God so that “the God of love and peace” will be with me.