THE BLESSING IN WORDS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are many ways to bless other people.

We can bless with gifts.

We can bless with acts of kindness.

We can bless with bless with our thoughtfulness and caring.

And as we see in today’s final verse from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, we can bless with the words we choose. Look at the ones the Apostle used:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14

Think about the ways that people end their correspondence, whether handwritten or digitally via email or text. Technically, this is called the valediction.

Some will just put their name.

Others may say any number of words before they put their name like “Regards” or “Sincerely” or “Respectfully”.

Few will go to the extent that we find Paul going as he wishes three specific things for the Corinthian believers, each associated with a person of the Holy Trinity.

First, we wished for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with the church in Corinth. This grace is the true grace extended by God through His Son. It’s a grace that no one has to earn through works. Rather, all one needs to do is simply believe in Jesus to escape perishing and gain eternal life (John 3:16).

Given that Paul’s key ministry motivation was to help people find their salvation through the Gospel, you can understand why he would hope for the grace of the Lord Jesus to be on the Corinthian Christians.

The second thing we find Paul wanting the church in Corinth to have is the love of God. This isn’t just a variation of the love one finds in the world. Rather, it’s the purest, most perfect love someone can experience, a love that is unconditional and unbiased, a love that no one could ever take away.

Finally, we find the Apostle desiring for the Corinthian believers to be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Jesus promised God would send as a Counselor and Comforter after He ascended. When in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and only when in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, a person can be assured they are living right and righteously, in a way that is pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Such is the power of influence the Spirit has on anyone who chooses to have relationship with it.

Grace, love, and fellowship.

Paul wished all three for the church in Corinth as he closed his letter, blessing the believers with his words.

As we correspond with others, we should follow his lead as we come to the end of what we have to say. For you’ll never know how much you can bless other by the words you use unless you give it a try.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com