November 21, 2022
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from 1 Corinthians? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Corinthians 1 (NIV)
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus............Continue Reading
Be thankful for the work Christ has done to make us righteous in His sight because without it we would all be lost and slaves to our own evil ways. Christ looks at all people equal in His kingdom and we are to stand in unity and not let our foolish and personal differences divide us for Christ died for each of us Jew and Gentile, rich, and poor alike. It is not one church, one preacher, or one teacher that makes us more worthy but simply the work of God so we should not let these things divide us because God can use anyone and does for His glory….prophet to prostitute, king to leper, wise to foolish…God works in and through all!
City of Corinth not an easy city to transaction into a life of Christianity. Kind of like trying to convert people that live in New Orleans. Swaying back and forth from their new lifestyle but not wanting to let go of the old stuff. For that reason they stayed mere infants in their faith. Love the second half of this chapter. I can so relate. Always feeling I was less than growing up. Didn’t care about school or learning. Only thing I cared about was sports. Nothing else interested me. Until the Holy Spirit filled me in the middle of one night. Then I kicked into gear something that was so overwhelming to me. God loved me and I was accepted. For the first time in my life I was full of desire to understand more So I’m thankful I grew up the way I did and now Gods wisdom shines through someone who was subpar in early life. Didn’t bother me that much. I excelled in sports. Now I can excel for my Lord. I wouldn’t trade anything for the way my life was orchestrated by God. !!
Amen, Mark!
It always impresses me that Paul calls this church that he has so much correction for, sanctified in Christ. God sees us as holy even when we are not holy to inspire us to holiness and make sure we are seeking God’s provisions to be holy. And I was really struck by Paul’s words in verse 5, “for in Him we have been enriched in every way. Isn’t that the truth? Every facet of our lives is made more rich and meaningful through our knowledge of God. Every day is filled with purpose and He is always with us in good times and bad. Priceless!
And boy do we need to protect ourselves from division. Maybe it won’t be based in who we follow, but maybe doctrinal differences or different opinions or politics. If Jesus is the focus of our lives and He is the One calling the shots then there should be no divisions. I was also struck by how foolish God’s wisdom is to the world today, but clearly that has always been a problem. How important it is for us not to back off from proclaiming that wisdom because it is seen as foolish. It is effectively part of the deal of being a Christian that you will be misunderstood, questioned, or made fun of for believing the wisdom of God about Jesus.
And isn’t it great that we don’t have to be the best to be in Christ. In fact the more we know the reality of our weakness, faith makes more sense. Give me that weakness and foolishness of God any day over the wisdom and strength of the world!
1st Corinthians 1
I listened to a preacher talking about apologetics and how apologetics or reasoning should not be our primary mode of evangelism. People are saved by the gospel, they are not saved by logic or philosophy or reasoning. This was very true for me. I heard the gospel, and believed. No one argued with me about the benefits or common sense or historical evidence for Christ. The preacher’s point was that we believe in faith…not from human wisdom. These verses made me think of that.
“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 1
God is the one who keeps us firm to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of judgement, it is not of our own power. He is faithful to do what he has spoken in his word. It is important to God that the church be unified in thought and mind. To those God has called, is given the wisdom of God, to discern what is true and understand why Jesus Christ is our savior. People who don’t believe, do not understand these things and they are unable to grasp what the truth is, so they are the foolish ones.