Paul concluded his letter to the people of Corinth with a wish. He wished them joy and he wished them a lot of peace and real love: 11 And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. 12 Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello.

This sounds a bit like a pie in the sky, because, you see, Paul, you haven’t seen my life. It’s everyone for himself. If you don’t step on someone in the process, you will never get to the top. And have you seen the curve balls flying around? It’s one thing after another that we have to deal with. How can you be happy and smile all the time? Peace, what is peace? And love? Look around me. It’s fighting and arguing and war. Not only far away, here in our homes too.

Ag no man, Paul, wake up and smell the roses.

Unfortunately, this is true. There’s no happiness, peace, unity, love and all those beautiful things in our lives. We want to revolt. We want to start doubting God’s existence, because according to us we don’t see Him. It’s just talking and preaching, but in reality we cannot laugh from sheer joy. We experience only plastic love and the beautiful things are missing.

Maybe we shouldn’t look too far for the absence of the good things. Maybe we shouldn’t even look outside ourselves! Maybe, just maybe we ourselves are responsible for the chaos in our lives.

It seems as if love, peace, joy and unity are spinoffs of the way we live. If we live life the way we want to and according to our own rules, chances are that we will not meet up with love, peace and joy.

On our own we simply do not have the ability to see the full picture. We do not realize what impact our actions of today will have on tomorrow. We need help. We need God and that is why Paul makes this suggestion, no, actually gives an instruction: 11… Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.

Do the right thing. Be still. Hear God talking to you through Paul. Then you will experience love. Live the way God wants you to, then you will experience happiness and laughter. Living within the will of God binds us together and unites us. And this will lead to peace.

This is a promise by God. The key to your life is in your hand. Only you can decide how you want to live your life. But if I may say something: Take Paul’s words seriously today and do exactly what God says to you. Your life will be different.

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Reflection

Do you make time to listen to God?

Can you hear His voice?

Do you live according to His will for your life?

Prayer

Father, your Word teaches me how to live. I want to follow your advice and wisdom so that my life can be in line with your will for my life. Amen