Archive for the ‘1 Corinthians’ Category

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Day 249: Psalm 99:1-103:22; 1 Corinthians 4:7-5:8 — The Holy One, His holy people

Monday, September 6th, 2010

With the Psalmist I sing praise to the Mighty King, the Warrior, Who defends His people. These Psalms flow so beautifully, sustaining us, reviving us, as we follow the vivid imagery David employs to express real life with the True King, extolling the virtues and actions of the Holy One of Israel. This leads so naturally to the outburst of praise. Our familiar “Make a joyful noise” actually describes the thunderous roar from a huge crowd shouting for joy in victory, loud calls of thanksgiving, a tumult raising voices in praise. The closest thing we have today may be the sound of a crowd watching the quarterback in the last two seconds of the last quarter as he sails that long pass on target into the waiting arms of the running back as he crosses the goal line for the win. Wow! What a picture of a Holy Righteous God! Come into His presence with this tumultuous whole heart of utter joy, the King, the Holy One!

Flowing so naturally Psalm 101 challenges us to act holy for this Holy, Powerful, Loving God. I hate the work of the wicked! It shall not latch onto me! I will not even glance at their despised images of temptation and wickedness! I will destroy evil for and by the power of the Holy One! Psalm 102 — I will fade from this realm of flesh, but You, O God, endure forever! Psalm 103 — Therefore I will not forget You here and now! You heal me in a way that confutes this world. You forgive me completely. Just how far is east from west!? He knows I can take only so much in this life and makes me able to bear, 1 Cor. 10:13. All that is in me, all of which I am made cries. “Holy God, How Great and Matchless You are, Bless the Lord, O my soul!” He remembers those who remember Him and keep the covenant.

Paul brings to bear on the church that we are not the center of anything, we are not powerful, we are not wise. Our God and His Christ — from our God flows life and to Him must flow our praise and loyalty forever.

Today brings sadness and joy. This morning, early, Kim’s father passed into the presence of the Father of us all. But as I read these passages today, I rejoice in the One Who loved Kim’s dad, and gave Himself for Bill. Let the tears of this life give way to the shouts of joy for those who pass into His glorious presence and see Him face to face. Live for Christ today, that you may live with Him forever.

Prayer: O God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You. In Jesus’ name, thank You, bless Your Holy Name, Amen.

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Day 247: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 — God’s secret wisdom

Saturday, September 4th, 2010

1:25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength…2:14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

There are a lot of things I don’t understand about God and the way He works. I don’t understand how God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart1” (Exodus 7:3-13, and others). I don’t understand how God “sends a powerful delusion” to “those who are perishing” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). We pray for God to be with us when we travel, and to grant us a safe trip. I believe He answers those prayers, but I don’t understand how He does it. Right now, many of us are praying that God will send us a minister to work with our congregation and help us grow, to His glory, and we are praying the He send a Christian couple to work at a nearby Christian children’s home as relief house parents. I have faith that God will honor those requests, but I don’t have a clue how He’ll do it.

You know what else I don’t understand? I don’t understand the kind of love that redeemed me from the pit and offered me the hope of eternal salvation — but I believe it. That’s all we’re asked to do. That’s all God has ever required from His people — a living, active, obedient faith that trusts in His grace to provide.

Do you have that kind of faith?

  1. For a nicely-written, documented-by-scripture article on this subject, see Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart?, by Kyle Butt and Dave Miller.

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Day 246: 1 Corinthians 1:14-2 Corinthians 2:5 — Humbleness

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Have you ever thought of Paul as being humble. I really have not pictured Paul as a humble man. I picture through reading his writings, Paul as a strong, confident man who was not afraid to proclaim the gospel any place, any time, to any people. From these particular scriptures, I get a different picture of Paul. Paul takes on a humble nature in order that God is glorified. Paul expressed that he was glad that he had baptized only a few people (1 Cor. 1:14-17) so that he did not become the center of attention by people who might egotistically want to put it out that they were better than other baptized believers because they had been baptized by Paul. Humans tend to want to do things like that to make themselves appear to be better than others in the same situation.

Paul then goes on to discuss how the power of God “destroys the wisdom of the wise and frustrates the intelligence of the intelligent” (1 Cor. 1:19). Paul elaborates by stating how Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). The Jews expected a triumphant, political Messiah and the Greeks and Romans thought that no reputable person would be crucified since crucifixion was for criminals. Both groups could not imagine that the Savior of the World would save them through something that they thought was below such a Savior or King. Paul says that God used this to demonstrate that what man thought was foolishness was really wise.

How often do we find ourselves, or a better way to say it is how often do I find myself thinking “God wouldn’t really do it that way would he?” What I forget is that God thinks in a different way than I do. He uses all different means, even what appears to us to be lowly people, things, or situations to advance his purpose. Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians and thus us that we need to look past ourselves and our thoughts and put God first. In this way we are humbling ourselves to God or putting him first and not our agenda first.

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Posted in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Humility, Paul | 1 Comment »

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