RSS

Category Archives: 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

20 Apr

But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

Dear God, this happens to be the passage of the day from Bible Gateway, and it is appropriate because it is the anniversary of the death of a young man I never knew, but whose life and his family overlaps with ours in a weird tangential way. I’m not going to get into that right now. You know the story. I just want to take this time to pray for this family who lost their son 13 years ago. The horror. The anguish. The pain of the loss. Yesterday was the anniversary of a day in our family’s history that, in the words of my wife, ripped the fabric of our family. Today is the anniversary of another tragedy that ripped the fabric of another family. And then there is another friend whose son died three years ago this last Saturday. I thought it was a few days from now, but I just looked up his obituary and I had missed it. For his parents, its been incredibly painful, and I know there marriage struggles. I’m impressed the first couple has remained married. Honestly, I’m impressed by wife and I have remained married through our tragedy. There is always so much blame to go around in times like this, including blaming ourselves. And all three of the situations I’m talking about were preventable. The outcomes could have changed had better decisions been made–maybe by everyone. The tragedy is felt and internalized. The despair is palpable.

But then verse like this remind me how small this life is. Paul lets us in on “a wonderful secret.” There is hope in a life that is redeemed after this earth passes away. The new earth is waiting, and it has work for us to do. There’s no room for selfishness or foolishness there. I cannot bring those things with me. And I’ll gladly leave them behind for the opportunity to be made whole and exist in your presence forever. Loving my family. Loving my friends. Loving my enemies. Loving well.

Father, I pray that the two couples I’m thinking of who lost their sons too young will feel your healing and comfort today. I’m reminded of the couple whose adult son was healed from his blindness by Jesus. Everyone, including the disciples, wanted to blame them. But they were not to blame. Jesus said so. I pray that you would break down the acts of us blaming others or ourselves. Comfort them today. Raise up people in their lives who will love on them and give them your sense of caring and compassion. Help them to turn loose of the “what might’ve beens” and embrace the years they had with them. When we have sons and daughters we can’t help but have dreams for them. Each of them. I pray that you will somehow today, impart dreams for their sons that they cannot even fathom on this side of death. Unite them togethe as couples comfort them through each other. Save this one marriage that is on the brink.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 20, 2026 in 1 Corinthians

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-23

17 Apr

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
    and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”

20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

1 Corinthians 1:18-23

Dear God, I really like verses 22 and 23 where Paul talks about your “foolishness” from the perspective of the Jewish people of the day and the Greeks. The idea that Jewish worshippers of you would see it as offensive that you/Jesus were crucified makes sense. How could you possibly be killed? Humiliated? Suffer such a defeat? Then, for the Greeks, it would just make no philosophical sense.

I remember a young Christian woman I knew was dating a devout Muslim. Remarkably, the longer they dated the closer they got to the religions of their childhood. She was ulitmately baptized in a Baptist church while they were dating. She remarked that Christianity was the only religion that leaned on your mercy. For her boyfriend, that was nonsense. Just accepting your mercy through Jesus was too easy.

As for me, I wantt o sit here and judge others for being so foolish, but I know I can be such a fool too. I get ideas in my head about you or what you think of things that are totally wrong. I think of verse 20 above that talks about the philosophers, scholars, and brilliant debaters. Yes, I like to think of myself as thoughtful and intelligent. As having great insights. But the truth is that I am a fool. Any insights or wisdom I get comes from you. It comes from times like this, reading what you recorded for us through scripture and then asking the Holy Spirit to speak to me through it. And to give me ears to hear.

Father, let that be my prayer today. Let me be about being humble in the face of the people I talk with. Help me to listen and learn from others. My inclindation is to try to be impressive. Now that’s foolishness! Help me to be intentionally humble because the truth is that I am a fool and nothing without you. Help me to grow a little more of your fruit today so others might be drawn to you. I have three specific appoitnments today and a lot of letters to write. Help me to be a blessing to all.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 17, 2026 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , ,

1 Corinthians 2:1-13

15 Feb

2 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.”

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

1 Corinthians 2:10-13

Dear God, this happens to be the New Testament reading in a lot of denominations this morning, and it fits with the rest of my morning. I’m going to be talking to a church this morning, and I’ve been turning over what I’m going to say in my head for a couple of weeks. I’ve kind of got it down into four main parts.

  • Set-up: How I started doing these prayer journals
  • Results: What happened when I started journaling through Nehemiah
  • Other examples: What happened when someone else obeyed you (starting the nonprofit where I work)
  • Call to action: How will they listen for your voice and follow you

Here’s where I’m kind of hung up. I heard a Tim Keller talk to other pastors earlier in the week where he challenged them to always bring it back to Jesus. Jesus is the part of you that reached out and brought me into right relationship with you. I can’t do this without Jesus. Jesus is the perfected me that I’m striving to be like, but who is also the savior who links me to you. In the case of my talk today, Jesus is the perfected Nehemiah. Jesus is the perfected woman who started our nonprofit. Jesus is the perfected them (the people in the sanctuary today). Jesus is the one who made the way, set the example, and is now working through the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are in him.

Father, as I go into this morning, I want to be completely dialed in on who Jesus is in all of this. I want to glorify Jesus, worship you, and help people hear your Holy Spirit and sink into it as they make moment-by-moment decisions about their lives. Help me do that. Plan through me. Speak through me. Communicate through me. Love through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 15, 2026 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , ,

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

10 Feb

29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

Dear God, how many times have I read 1 Corinthians 13 without first reading what came before? How did Paul segue into this? What was his set-up?

He was talking about the different gifts and how not everyone has them, but then he told them what is universal to all of us. He told them about love, which is the “way of life that is best of all.”

I kind of talked about this a few days ago when I talked with you about how we treat life as if it is simultaneously precious and then cheap. Our lives are precious to us. Our existence is important. But then when we tear down another person. Bully them. Are indifferent or rude to them. We act as if their lives are not important.

And Paul is good here about explaining the difference between being kind and loving. In 13:3, he talks about how giving to the poor is fine, but if you don’t love those around you then you still aren’t hitting the mark.

Father, I have a conversation coming up soon that could be difficult. Help me to lead with love. Help me to truly love this person and be concerned about them. Help me to be compassionate, but to also understand that a higher bar set for them can be good for them as well. Holy Spirit, whisper in my ear. Speak to me and through me. Help me to be exactly what my friend needs me to be this morning. I want the absolute best for her. I want to love her in the purest form of your love. And I have relatives I want to know how to love as well. I have other friends. Of course, I have a wife who needs my love. Help me, Father, to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 10, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

18 Jan

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

Dear God, I was talking with my wife last night about this generation and how the perspectives of a 20-year-old now seem so different that how a 20-year-old would have seen the world 20 years ago. But then, hasn’t that been true with every generation? Rounding off to even numbers, I am sure a 20-year-old in 2020 sees the world very differently and has a much different philosophy of life than did a 20-year-old in 2000. The same would be true for the 20-year-old in 1980, 1960, 1940, 1920, and 1900. The 20-year old in 1960 saw the world much differently than did the 20-year-old in 1940.

So, while I might want to scoff at Paul’s comment that the temptations we experience are no different than the temptations others have experienced, the truth is, they all have the same root. The temptation delivery system might be different. Porn, alcohol, and illicit drugs might be more accessible now, but there is also much less privacy and it’s harder to hide our bad actions. It still comes down to the fact that we allow selfishness, self-gratification, and a need to escape reality to take us away from you and from the life you intended us to have.

Back in September, I made a list of the things that I need to do, as a minimum, to maintain my relationship with you. Here is what I came up with:

  • The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a “have to” for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
  • Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
  • Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
  • At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
  • Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
  • Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
  • Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
  • Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.

Then I came up with kind of a bonus list of things that are good if I add to it:

  • Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
  • My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
  • Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
  • Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
  • Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
  • Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

Father, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. The temptations are different now, but their delivery system is. I can do so much in the privacy of my home that people might never know about. Save me from that. Help me to maintain the boundaries of my “floor” and then build on that floor with walls a roof made up of the other things I added to the list later. And do all of this so that I might fully experience you in my life–at least as fully as humanly possible on this side of the death divide. I want to experience the fruit of your Holy Spirit now as much as possible because you are the only true source of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Help me to live into that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 18, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

“Would you still follow Jesus?” (1 Corinthians 15:12-20)

29 Nov

Dear God, I was listened to the Holy Post Podcast yesterday that interviewed a friend of Tony Campolo’s, Shane Claiborne. They were discussing Tony’s recent passing, and there were several good parts of it. I expect to listen to it again, but as I sat down this morning and thought about it, I think this is my favorite part. Claiborne mentioned this as one of Tony’s core messages when he would speak to groups, and it is something I trace back in my own life to when I used to say the same things to kids at camp when I was a counselor 35 years ago.

I remember a couple of years later when I was sharing that philosophy (theology?) with a Christian friend who was older than me, and he scolded me for it. He pointed to Paul when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” This caught me flat-footed and I remember not having much to say in return. That conversation was 32 years ago, and it’s amazing how much it still haunts me now.

If I were to have another shot at that conversation, I would want to point out the context of that verse:

12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

In my opinion, and perhaps my friend would still have disagreed, for Paul, the idea of afterlife with you is part of the argument for Jesus’s resurrection. You can’t separate them. If no afterlife, no resurrection. If no resurrection, no afterlife. As I sit and think o this now, I just had a thought that takes what Paul taught one step further. If no afterlife, then no reason for us to even care about you. No reason for the incarnation in the first place. No reason, honestly for you to care about us any more than we care for our pets. Our lives would be so unbelievably insignificant in your presence as specks of dust that are here and gone (Psalm 103:14-15), then what would be the point. No, afterlife is truly the lynch pin to everything I believe in about you.

With that said, following Jesus and what he taught us is not about picking the lesser of two evils: It’s a pain to follow you, but it’s better than hell! It’s about the opportunity to follow you and live a victorious, sacrificial life here on earth that grows the fruit of your Holy Spirit within me regardless of what it physically costs me. It’s about the peace I get here. The love. The joy. The patience. The goodness. The kindness. The gentleness. The faithfulness. The self-control. Knowing you. Loving you. Serving you by serving others. That’s what it all is about. That’s what I’m offering others when I talk to them about you. It’s not a guillotine over their head and a threat that they better follow you or else. It’s an invitation into true life.

Father, I have got to be better about offering this life to others! I am sorry that I’m not. I’m sorry to you, but I’m sorry to them as well. Help me to really get this concept and compel me to live it out. Thank you that you taught it to me. Help me to teach it to others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 29, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 121, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

13 Nov

121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 121

Dear God, when I read this passage this morning, it reminded me of what I learned from Walter Brueggemann about the psalms being categorized into three categories, with some psalms fitting into more than one: Orientation (God, thank you, everything is going great), Disorientation (God, help, everything is going wrong), and Reorientation (God, thank you for bringing me through everything going wrong). For this poem, I see it as a kind of psalm of reorientation. The psalmist is saying claiming his own victory through Jesus and then encouraging those in disorientation with it. In the first two verses, he is remembering back on his life and his times of disorientation and needing help. And you were faithful to be there for him.

Then the rest of the psalm is encouraging others. Encouraging us. Hey, I’ve been there. I know it’s hard. But he will not let your foot slip (verse 3). He will be your shade from oppression (verses 5 and 6). He will protect your soul from evil and keep it with him (verse 7). He will guard you (verse 8). This psalmist is the voice of evidence that you are good and an encouragement to those around him. To me sitting here today.

I was visiting with a friend yesterday who is experiencing pain that I have experienced. We shared our pain and our experiences. Our weaknesses. In some ways, I was like the psalmist trying to encourage her. And while my pain still exists, you’ve taught me to use it to form who I am in you and then encourage others in similar situations. Oh, how I pray that this friend does not experience the pain to the extent I have. Please, Father, be with that situation.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Then there is the pain of death. But Paul is being the psalmist here to the Corinthians. To us. To me. He is giving us comfort in the midst of our pain when we lose someone. Maybe when we fear our own death. He is reminding us of what the Old Testament prophets said about death.

I mentioned Saturday the friend who died suddenly. This is a time of disorientation for all who knew him, but especially his wife and children. Extreme disorientation. How could it not be. But I pray that they will find comfort. That you will raise up people to be your hands and feet to them. I pray that they will welcome in and accept the help and love you have for them. Be glorified, somehow, through this loss. Do not let this pain be wasted. Help his widow one day get to the point where she is the psalmist for others. Where she is encouraging someone else that their foot will not slip because of you. That you will be their shade. It won’t be today that she is the psalmist. And it won’t be tomorrow. But help her and all of your church to be that encouragement to a lost world and to all in the church who are currently disoriented. Help us to be what you need us to be so that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 13, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Psalms

 

Tags: , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

31 Aug

26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Dear God, I was talking to a friend yesterday about doing these prayer journals and how sometimes when others read them they tell me that they think I am a little hard on myself or ask if I’m okay. I always tell encourage them to spend some time writing down their prayers before you and do their best to honestly examine their own hearts before you. I think they will find that it is impossible to sit before you in an earnest manner and not feel a need to repent before you and find the things in their actions, thoughts, or attitudes that need corrected. And it’s a good thing. It’s quite therapeutic.

That’s what I thought of when I read verse 29 from 1 Corinthians 1 this morning: As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. No, I do not boast in myself. Oh, I’m tempted to. I’m tempted to point out to people how great of a person I am. How smart I am. How good I am at this, that, or the other. When I guest preach or sing a Sunday school class, I have to spend a lot of time in prayer about my ego and my motives for teaching or preaching. On my way to the church, one of the songs I always sing is Casting Crowns’s “Nobody“: I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul. Ever since you rescued me, you’ve given me a song to sing. I’m living for the world to see nobody but Jesus.

Father, be with me today. For every person I interact with, make me the man you need me to be. Love them through me. Love me through them. Teach me through them. Make me an instrument of blessing to the world, but not for my glory–for yours. Oh, Father, today, I am just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 31, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

12 Aug

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Dear God, we tend to think that sexual immorality wasn’t a thing until the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Before then, everyone waited until marriage, was faithful in marriage, and never had wandering eyes or lustful problems. But I suppose there is a reason prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession. There is this weird thing about our sex drive that really does create both beauty in our lives and huge problems if we let it.

I have no frame of reference for what prostitution was like two thousand years ago. Five thousand years ago. I think of the story in Genesis when Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law (widow of his son), thinking she is a prostitute. He is okay to join himself with a prostitute, but when he finds out the daughter-in-law is pregnant he is ready to have her killed until he realizes she is the woman he slept with (Genesis 38:12-29). How did Paul feel about that story?

Father, there are all kinds of addictions that are an issue in our lives. Food is certainly an issue for me. I have an unhealthy relationship with it. Portion control. The types of food I eat. Whatever it might be, I have a terrible time controlling myself with it. But the struggle gives me sympathy for others. It gives me empathy as well. None of us are as strong as we think we are. I certainly am not. So help me today. Help me to be at peace in your presence. Help me to hear your still small voice and follow it. Help me to be pure of heart, mind, soul, and body. Help me to love richly. Help me to be the man you need me to be for my sake, the sake of my family, and for the sake of your kingdom in this world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 12, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

21 May

10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”

13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. 16 (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) 17 For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Dear God, what role do I play in divisions? It’s probably more than I know. For example, there is a church in town whose message scares me a little because of its political overtones. How would I respond if I went to church there? How should I respond? Would I speak my peace to leadership privately and then join in worship? Would I silently disagree with what is happening and just try to be your presence? Would I let people know where I disagree and then sow dissent within the congregation? Heck. Even praying here right now, I’m not totally sure what the right thing to do would be.

Being a non-Catholic attending a Catholic church has actually given me a lot of freedom to silently disagree when I disagree. I know I’m the minority there. I know that the things I disagree about really don’t make much eternal difference. I know the people I’ve met there, nearly every single one, loves you deeply and worships you. So my disagreements are immaterial.

Perhaps that’s my answer. The way I live my life inside and outside of community (which hopefully is always the same) is going to say what I believe without me having to say it. And as long as I am in a church that preaches you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, our redemption and reconciliation to you through Jesus life death and resurrection, then even something with a more politically active focus than I’m comfortable with would just be another flavor about which I might even be wrong.

Father, let there be peace within your church, and let it begin with me. Help me to love everyone who calls on Jesus as their savior and reconciler to you as my sister or brother. From there, make my life and my activities about encouraging Jesus in the lives of others. I was thinking about a coworker this morning who is such a good woman, but just needs to enjoy what can be possible by fully sinking into you and pursuing you with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help me to know how to lovingly encourage that in her and everyone else with whom I come into contact today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 21, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 
← Older posts