Friday, June 23, 2023

A Refresher of Souls

 DEVOTION

THE 1ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIAN

A REFRESHER OF SOULS

1 Cor 16:15-18

15 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, 16 to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. 17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

NIV

Again, we are at the concluding remarks, except these include the names of three men who must have been the ones who delivered the letter the Corinthians had sent Paul with questions and is the very reason Paul wrote this letter in order to respond with instructions regarding their questions. We have heard about Stephanas in the early part of this letter where Paul admits that he did baptize Stephanas and his household and in the letter he mentions him again as one of the first converts in Achaia. As interesting as all this is and what it was they provided that was lacking from the Church in Corinth, we want to consider something else that was said and how that might look in the church today, specifically in our lives. However, perhaps it would be interesting to consider what it was the three provided Paul that was lacking from the Corinthian church. Was it details left out of the letter about what was actually going on in the church? Was it financial in nature? It seems our scholars of old cannot come to a common solution so we will just consider it interesting. Now for this statement that strikes this chord within us. They refreshed his spirit and that of the church in Corinth. Are we refreshing the spirits of the others we commune with within the church, as well as perhaps any believer that we might come in contact with? Certainly boasting about our work in the Lord, or our deeds, our anything for that matter, unless we are boasting about Jesus, does not refresh anyone except ourselves. We think it would be good to look into the Greek word, anapauoo, to find what this refresh meant to Paul. This word can be used to cause or permit one to cease any movement or labor to recover and collect his strength to give rest. That would be like permitting the pastor to take a vacation, or a sabbatical in order to refresh himself. But in the context, it appears to be more in the active sense as to refresh, the soul of anyone such as when Jesus told us to come onto him anyone who is burdened and he would give us rest. Jesus refreshes our souls. We think this should be applied to all of us in the sense that we should give rest to everyone, restoring their soul, lifting them up, encouraging them to be the best they can be as believers, and when someone is down, feeling alone, or dealing with some difficultly, we are there to lift them up, to refresh their soul, their spirit. Now what does that look like? We cannot be sure, as each situation might be different, but in general, we could say we should always be about refreshing each other, lifting each other up, and building each other up as in until we all reach unity in the faith. Let us be a refresher of souls.


 

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