What have you begun before that needs finishing now?

 Was recently reading Second Corinthians 8 when I came across these familiar verses in verses 10 to 12: “10 And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— 11 now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. 12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have.”

 Now of course I believe we all know that Paul was talking about a voluntary Collection for the poor in Jerusalem that the Corinthians had begun to put together but had still not completed a year later, but today I was wondering if we too do not have unfinished projects of our own that we have begun, whether last year or years before, that we too need to finish now?

 Yes, sadly, many people are sarcastically referred to as “Gunners”. That is that are always saying that they are ‘gunna do this’ or they are ‘gunna do that’ and often begin well but rarely finish.

 Again enough of them, what about you and me? Are we too “gunners”? Or are we finishers too? People and God are not interested in what we have begun; but only in what we have finished with what we have as verse 12 clearly states.

 So in closing, what is it that you have begun that still needs finishing, and when will you do it? T.O.W.G.P.

Have you really come out from among them.

Was Just reading from the Second Letter of Paul’s to the Corinthians, when this familiar passage took on a new emphasis to me, so I thought I would take the liberty of sharing it with you. Now 2Corinthians 6: 17 – 7: 1, says: “17 Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.” Looking at the text in 6 17, we see again that we were told to separate ourselves from our past sinful connections and, if we do, God will welcome us into His presence. Further, in 6:18, He promises us that he will be our Father and we His Children. Now this promise is not new to us nor to the Corinthian church I believe, but I can’t help wondering if we, like the Corinthian believers then, also even now, need to in the words of 7;1, to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.” What say you? Yes like the Corinthians we have been saved and are now the Children of God, but have we, like them then, allowed ourselves to go back to our old ways again and thus need to cleanse ourselves again, from every defilement of both our bodies and our minds? So in closing I ask again: “Have we really come out from among them? Or have we allowed ourselves, perhaps even unknowingly, to slip back in to our old ways again, and thus need to come again to God in repentance for forgiveness of our backsliding? Over to you now for your reflection. And action if needed! T.O.W.G.P.