2 CORINTHIANS 13
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. – 2 Corinthians 13:5-10
2 CORINTHIANS 13 SUBMIT TO THE TRUTH
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
As you become a believer, you are required to surrender your life
There’s no longer a need to cater to your desires and engage in strife
Jesus has implanted his word in your heart so you may be saved
Examine the instructions in his word and humbly succumb
Without being tested by the word, you will not submit to it
If God chose you, you’ll be tested so you can grow in endurance
If you fail to submit to the truth, you will still be faithless
Confess the word, obey it, then your new creation will transpire.
I love how Paul wrote this love letter to the Corinthian church. He manifests the love that God has for his people and how he guides them to submit to the word of truth. I’ve seen many Christians who do not submit to the authority of Scripture and yet claim they are Christians. James says that the truth is given to us so that our souls may be saved. Paul also says to his letter to Timothy that all scriptures are God-breath and is given to us to correct, teach, instruct us and give us a way out when we are trapped in sin. This is what it means by the word as having authority over our lives. It is equally sovereign over us just like God the Father and the Holy Spirit is. In John 1:1 he says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. So, what John is saying here is that Jesus was the Word. He also points this out to the Pharisees when he said in John 5:39 You search for Scripture because you think they give you eternal life but the Scriptures point to me. That is because Jesus himself is the Word. He is life and all who come to him will have eternal life. It took me a while to grasp this truth because I have believed so many false teachings in the past. It is just beginning to make sense to me why God reveals himself to us in the bible. If we don’t submit to it, we are technically disobeying God himself, isn’t it?
As a former Speech and English teacher, I couldn’t stress much to my students the importance of using the appropriate words when they speak. What we say and how we say it can make or break someone. As the bible says in Proverbs 18:21, the power of life and death is in the tongue. I don’t wonder anymore why God would choose the Word to give us life and to save us.
REFLECTION
- What could be some reason why some Christians won’t submit to the word of truth?
