Worthy Pursuit

2 Corinthians 13:11 KJV

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

The epistle ends with three things that lend to experiencing the presence of God;

• Be perfect
• Be of good comfort
• Be of one mind, live in peace

Some commentaries make the preposition "be" to be more active than might be usually thought. The first one found in this verse is from the Greek, "katah" which can mean:

• By any means
• Mightily or
• Beyond measure

Paul is doing more than wishing for their perfection comfort and unity, he is telling them to aggressively pursue them.

Barnes Notes challenges those who teach sinless perfection to produce documented and credible evidence of anyone who has attained it. Yet he goes on to say this does not mean we are not responsible to reach for it. The fact that no one other than Christ has lived perfectly is in no way an excuse to go on living in imperfection.

To be of good comfort means more than just feeling good about ourselves but to seek to exhort and come alongside and comfort others. I read a quote last night that said, "A word of encouragement after a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after a success."

To be of one mind can only happen when Christians adopt the mind of Christ. All of us have different likes and dislikes different backgrounds and educations and therefore have different minds. It would be impossible to decide which mind among us would be the best one to have therefore the only way to have it is to take the mind of the Lord. This, according to our passage, is accompanied with the phrase "live in peace" because it is the natural outcome of being of one mind.

Barnes Notes goes on to say, "When Christians love each other they have reason to expect that the God of love will be with them; when they live in peace, they may expect the God of peace will take up His abode with them. In contention and strife we have no reason to expect His presence; and it is only when we are willing to lay aside all animosity that we may expect the God of peace will fix his abode with us."