Are you in need of being restored? Would you like to be encouraged? Are you seeking to live in peace? Is there someone you want to be on the same page with? Are there others in your life who needs your encouragement and restoration?
All of us need to be restored in one way or another. We all need encouragement from others. We all have people in our lives with whom we need to be in agreement, we need to be on the same page. This is especially true of our spouses.
Restoration can be challenging and difficult at times. We may be estranged from our parents or siblings and seeking to restart a relationship. We may be struggling in our marriage and seeking to reinvigorate it. Perhaps we made a big mistake at work and are trying to prove it was a one-time occurrence.
We all need encouragement at various times in our lives. We particularly need positive reinforcement during our school years. Encouragement when starting a new job or a new position makes it easier. There are times when we are going through a particularly tough time encouragement can be what keeps us going.
Being of one mind is an especially tough task to achieve. We have our own opinions. We have our own beliefs. Sometimes we don’t recognize the difference between the two. Many times, we are unwilling to compromise. We take the “my way or the highway” mindset. We can’t be of one mind because we don’t want to be of one mind—unless the other person is willing to change. Certainly, don’t ask us to change.
Paul’s instructions to the church in Corinth applies to us today. Restoration is needed today, perhaps more than any other time in the past several decades. Encouragement needs to replace all the negativity we see in today’s culture. Being of one mind, singly focused on Jesus, is needed at all times, but possibly more now than in decades as well. Focus on Jesus—His teaching, His example—can change our culture for the positive in a very dramatic way. Forget the differences of opinion. Focus on the fact that Jesus is Lord and Savior of all. Focus on His mission to seek and save the lost. Focus on seeing people as Jesus sees them—a child of God.
I pray we all seek restoration with God and one another. I pray we accept and give encouragement. I pray each one of us seeks to be of one mind, fully focused on Jesus. Be restored. Be encouraged. Be of one mind. Maintain your focus on Jesus.
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Marty Pressey 