Let's Work Together
Last time I posted, I talked about being vigilant, or focused, on our faith in Jesus. This post, I wanted to explore the rest of the directive that Paul was giving to the church. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (KJV). The NAS version, the version I typically read, uses the word act instead of quit in this passage. And, maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I just had to investigate this.
The phrase “quit [or act] you like men” is actually one Greek word which, while yes, it carries a masculine flavor, can be applied to everyone. Figuratively, this word means to “mature, be responsible and courageous.” So, in other words, Paul was telling the church to focus on their confidence in our promise-keeping God and to be mature, responsible, and courageous. The next instruction pairs nicely with this, and is “be strong.” This word more specifically means “to become strong” and HELPS word studies gives a deeper meaning of “prevailing by God’s dominating strength.”
I just got really excited! Lately, God has been speaking to me about walking in His power to bring His dominion here on earth through my life. And here, in this verse, we see a nugget of truth of HOW to walk in God’s power to bring heaven’s domination. In order to walk in God’s power, we need to do everything in our power to focus our minds on our faith (our confidence in God’s guarantee of His word) and be mature—in Hebrews, this is defined as someone who is trained in righteousness and able to distinguish between what is of God and what isn’t…in other words, someone who has their mind focused on God and not on “the flesh”. As we focus on Him and walk in confident assurance that what God will do what He told us He will do in us and through us (and that definitely takes courage!), we are able to operate in a greater degree of His power, thereby bringing His dominion here on earth in our lives. And what happens when we allow Him to have dominion (i.e. surrender control to Him) in our lives? What exactly is His dominion? The answer is in the final part of our passage: love.
God is love. He defines and embodies love, 1 Corinthians 13 is the iconic “Love Chapter” that spells it out for us. The more we allow God to operate through us and obey His leading in our lives, the more we will love. Love, true agape love, something the enemy cannot mimic. And he will never overcome it, not for all eternity. When we operate in God’s power, we bring His love into our environments. And it’s His love that creates freedom and authentic change in our hearts…all of our hearts. And THAT is what it’s really all about. THAT is the mystery of history. Us, co-laboring with God to bring His heart of love here on earth. What a privilege! And what a responsibility. It takes a lot of guts and strength to partner with God in His work, but there’s also nothing more wonderful.
Thank You, Lord for the amazing privilege of having a relationship with You. Thank You for choosing us to partner with to bring Your freedom and love here on earth. I ask that You would share Your thoughts and plans with me and show me how I can co-labor with You to release Your love into every environment in my life.
“Andrizó” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Updated Edition. Retrieved from BibleHub.
https://biblehub.com/greek/407.htm
“Krataioó.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Updated Edition. Retrieved from BibleHub.
https://biblehub.com/greek/2901.htm