站立和成長
哥林多後書十三章9至11節
9即使我們軟弱，你們剛強，我們也歡喜；並且我們所求的，就是你們作完全人。
10所以，我不在你們那裡的時候，把這話寫給你們，好叫我見你們的時候，不用照主所給我的權柄嚴厲的待你們；這權柄原是為造就人，並不是為敗壞人。
11還有末了的話：願弟兄們都喜樂。要作完全人；要受安慰；要同心合意；要彼此和睦。如此，仁愛和平的神必常與你們同在。
信息分享
第9節譯成「完全」的一詞，意思是成為完整。馬太福音四章21節形容幾個人在加利利海補網，用的就是這個字。
保羅祈求哥林多信徒能夠回復原初的信仰，然後繼續成長並追隨基督。他在第11節再次敦促他們要「作完全人」。
對未得救的人來說，最迫切的需要是能夠重生；對信徒來說，最迫切的需要是在基督裡成長。
我們當中太多人仍然像屬靈的嬰兒。倘若我們屬靈生命的成長，能夠像肉身的成長那樣一目了然的話，我們必定無比羞愧。
在動物世界，沒有其他生物的成長期像人類那樣長。也許，唯一需要更長時間成長的，就是那些遲遲不肯成長的基督徒。
我們在上天堂之前，是無法達致完全的；可是，在這個過程中，仍有很多成長的空間。我們如何才能成長？簡單而言，我們需要適當的糧食──神的話語；適當的回應──願意順服聖靈；以及適當的環境──住在神的家中。
保羅在第14節的最後一句說話，可以理解為在基督裡成長的結果──你將認識到神的祝福。
這正是我們最需要和最想要的，不是嗎？我們要追求完全，追求成長。任何時間起步成長都不會嫌晚。求主幫助你從今天開始起步。
STANDING AND GROWING
2 Corinthians 13:9-11
9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.
10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.
Greetings and Benediction
11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Message
The word 'perfection' in v.9 means to be made complete. It is used in Matthew 4:21 where the men were mending their fishing nets by the Sea of Galilee.
Paul's prayer was for the Corinthian Christians to be restored to the place where they had once been and even more to grow and go on in Christ. He said it again in v.11, 'Aim for perfection.'
The most urgent need for the unsaved is to be born again. The most urgent need for believers is to grow in Christ.
Too many of us are still like spiritual babies. If our spiritual life and growth could be seen as obviously as our physical condition, it might be humiliating.
In the natural world, no other creature has a childhood as long as the child of human parents. Perhaps the only one who takes longer is the believer who has never grown in Christ.
We will never reach perfection until we arrive in heaven but there is a lot of growing that can be done between now and then. How can we grow? Briefly we need the right diet of the Word of God, the right attitude to the indwelling Spirit of God, and the right environment among the family of God.
Paul's last words in v.14 could be seen as the result of growing in Christ - you will know the blessing of God.
That is what we want and need most of all, isn't that? 'Aim for perfection - Aim to grow.' It is never too late to start growing. Ask the Lord to help you start - or re-start today.