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5 Now if anyone has caused pain… to all of you. 6 …this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

When someone comes out and asks for forgiveness, that is to say, they are repentant, you don’t need to drag it out any longer or any more public than it already is. The idea of “Church Discipline” (as it is sometimes called) is not to enact a “punishment” on someone, as though we are their parents, no, it is to help them acknowledge their mistake, ask forgiveness from God and those whom they’ve wronged, and then rejoin the fellowship of their church family. Love keeps no record of wrongs… forgiveness is key to the Christian life. Only forgive if Jesus has forgiven you. Has Jesus forgiven you?

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

We ask for comfort from God, and he gives it, but when he does, it’s so we can be an instrument of his comfort to others, later on, who are going through the same kinds of things. The idea is that we need to “pay it forward.” What has been the hardest thing you’ve had to go through? Did you make it? Now, look around for others who are dealing with the same thing. Your previous struggle was, in part, how God was preparing you to minister to others. Your current struggle is not without purpose… look for others who’ve gone before you and find out how they made it. You are not alone, we can do this, together!

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Mae West once said “The more I know about men, the more I like dogs…”

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12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

It’s not just that Jesus is the best option… really, he’s the only option.

Here is an older post “Why I’m A Christian”

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