"Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable …" (2 Cor. 13:7).
Paul’s prayer for the Corinthians should be our prayer for the church and for ourselves. Paul longed for the Corinthian church to be free from the sins that so easily entangled them. He wanted them to prove by their obedience, by their steadfastness in the faith, that they had not been “disqualified” as true believers, but that they were indeed children of God. As is the desire of so many faithful ministers concerning their flock, he wanted them to “do no evil,” to be strong, and to be made “complete.” He did not want to chastise them with the rod of discipline, even though this was a power given to him by Christ for the edification of the body. Rather, He wanted them to take his warning seriously, to be convicted of their sin, to be strengthened in their faith, and to be faithful servants of Christ Jesus.
If you do not share the same burdens as Paul concerning the state of the church and the state of your own soul, consider the necessity of developing a godly concern for the things of God. It is too easy for Christians to become lazy in their pursuit of holiness and to grow indifferent to the state of the church. But of this we must be convinced, that if we are not growing in holiness, we are backsliding into evil ways. If we are not putting on Christ, we are putting on the world. If we are not crucifying the flesh, then we are feeding it. There is no neutral ground. We must be actively pursing holiness—as Paul puts it elsewhere, we must be diligently running the race to obtain the prize—or we might slide into despondency and disobedience. While true Christians cannot lose their salvation, if we grow cold in heart and fall into serious sin to the point that we are unable to repent, then we have proved that we were never a true child of God; then we will be “disqualified” to be in the kingdom of Christ.
May you be in constant prayer, as Paul was, to refrain from evil and to do what is honorable in the sight of God. May you likewise pray for those around you, those whom Christ loves. Our chief end in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him. Let that be your goal and the content of your prayers as you look forward to the upcoming new year.
Make a list of specific sins that you struggled with this past year. They might be sins of commission or omission (i.e., not praying, not studying Scripture, etc.). If you have time, find passages that warn against those specific sins and encourage you to obey. Keep these verses at hand when you pray daily to overcome these sins.
