Of You All

Do ever feel like something snaps you out of weeks and weeks of dreaming through life? That's me today. My alarm clock has been going off and I've finally got up the nerve to stop hitting the snooze button. That's a metaphor, of course. In actuality, I eagerly anticipate the alarm going off each morning.

There have been several things to bring me to this point. Most notable has been a few verses I came across whilst studying my Bible. 2 Corinthians 2:3-4.

"And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."

Paul is writing to a church with an ugly history of sin. He acknowledges their need to correct it. But there's something else in these verses. If you read the rest of the book and skipped these verses, you might get the impression that Paul is ministering to them grudgingly. With all the correction he is forced to teach them, it seems as if there's nothing terribly redeeming about this body of believers.


But if I'm being honest, most churches are like the church in Corinth. Mine included.


Paul didn't want his stay with them to be about dealing with sin. He wanted it to be joyful. So he attempted to correct some things before he even got there.


With a church so sickly and diseased, no one could blame Paul if he wrote them off as a hopeless cause. But that's not his heart. Their joy was his joy. Their sin caused him pain. He was bothered by it and even moved to tears. It pained him to have to correct this church. In other verses he states that he saw them as his children and it seems as though he acted like it too.


What can we learn from this? I don't think this attitude is only meant for a few saints like Paul, or even church leaders. I think this should be the attitude of every believer towards every other believer.


With the exception of a few, close friends, can we honestly say that the sin of other believers causes us "anguish of heart"? Does it? Or do we stand at a distance and shake our heads disapprovingly? All while hiding our own skeletons in our closets.


I'll confess, I fail miserably here. I'm content to leave others alone and be left alone. I'll stick to my friends, thank you. Maybe that's not right. All believers are my brothers and sisters. I rarely treat them as such. I inwardly scoff at them and their mistakes. I find some of their convictions silly. I don't bother to get to know them and figure out what trials they're facing.


I don't mean that God wants me to be everyone's best buddy. But maybe I should be more forthcoming with a genuine smile and more persistent about the times I pray for them. Even the people I don't like. I pray that God gives me the kind of heart that is able to treat them as if I were dealing with myself. Or even better, as if I were serving Him.


I don't think God is asking for anything new here. It's just love. Love isn't a calling for pastors and missionaries. Its a command for every believer. It's an order to love as Christ loved. And I have a hard time picturing my Lord and Savior distancing himself from people who are hurting and struggling through life. It's about time I act the same.