5 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. ² You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.

³ Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man ⁴ in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. ⁵ Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

⁶ Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. ⁸ So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:1-8

Dear God, one of the hardest things to figure out is where the cut line is on sin. What are the little ones and what are the big ones? Where do I look the other way and say, “Oh, he gossips too much and she is a little selfish and self-centered, but it’s not worth addressing,” and when do I confront them and tell them to stop? Pointing at myself, Where do I draw the line of living a life of complete purity and never allowing anything from society in and where do I allow myself to be exposed to the world around me? Should I remove everything secular from my home (including my cell phone) or should I continue to find a balance each day?

One thing I know about myself that is being underscored today is that I struggle when I don’t have structure. I am on the final day off from an 11-day break/vacation, and I am finding myself to be very unmotivated. I had prepared to do a bike ride this morning, but then I didn’t feel like it so I went back to bed. I have a group party to attend at noon today, and I’m grateful for it because I think I need a place to be. And it makes me grateful to get back to work tomorrow because I know I’ll come good and get myself back in gear. In the meantime today, going back to the levels of sin, I need to get rid of some of this slothfulness and pray to you about what you have for me to do today with this extra time I have.

Father, once again, it’s so easy to point to the sin of others and hard to ask you to examine my heart and reveal my sin to me. I’d just as soon not do that. But here we are, sitting together while I figure out how to get my act together and do my best to worship you. I have a couple of people I know from high school who are going through very difficult trials. One is bed-ridden. How much would she love to have the strength and opportunities I have today? So I offer this day to you. Help me to use it well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen