No Distinctions

Readings:
Job 20
I Corinthians 12:12-13

Focus:
I Corinthians 12:13a: "For in the one Spirit we were all brought into one body by baptism, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free."

Among the earliest Christians there were still some distinctions made between the original Christians, who were Jewish, and the later converts, who were most often Greek-speaking. And while many of them were free, some of them were slaves.

Paul here is emphasizing that despite these outward differences, it meant nothing to God whether a person was a Jew or a Greek, or a slave or a free person, in terms of the person's status as a Christian. All were equally acceptable to God.

It is the same for other distinctions between people. As it says elsewhere in the Bible, there is also no difference to God between male and female. There is no difference between black, brown, white, or any other skin color. There is no difference between Asian, African, American, Australian, or European. All who turn to God are equally acceptable to him. God loves all people.

Many Gifts

Readings:
Job 19
I Corinthians 12:1-11

Focus:
I Corinthians 12:7: "In each of us the Spirit is seen to be at work for some useful purpose."

This part of I Corinthians is encouraging because it talks about how God gives different kinds of gifts to different people who put their faith in him. Everyone who turns to God receives a gift from him to use in his service, but not all gifts are the same. So no one needs to feel like they have to be just like someone else.

The great thing about the gifts God gives us is that we enjoy using them. It makes us happy to fulfill our purpose. God's design for our lives works that way. And when we're all using our gifts, then the community is built up.

Discipline

Readings:
Job 18
I Corinthians 11:17-34

Focus:
I Corinthians 11:32: "When, however, we do fall under the Lord's judgment, he is disciplining us to save us from being condemned with the rest of the world."

Good parents don't let their children do whatever they want to do, and in addition, when their children do things that are wrong, good parents provide consequences for their children, so that the children learn that their wrong actions lead to bad consequences.

It is like that with us and God. God allows us to suffer the consequences of our wrong actions. This is discipline for us, so that we can learn what are wrong actions. (He also warns us ahead of time what is wrong; we can read this in the Bible! This is a good way of avoiding the consequences.)

Many people think that we shouldn't have to suffer consequences at all. They think it's unfair of God to let bad things happen. And some bad things do happen to innocent people. That's a whole different subject and is quite complex. But many bad consequences are things that we simply deserve. And actually God is quite merciful; often he works things out so that the consequences are less than they might have been. Or he shows us amazing love and gives us strength as we encounter the consequences. And as we go through them, we grow and learn. It turns into a good thing.

Woman Is As Essential to Man As Man to Woman

Readings:
Job 17
I Corinthians 11:1-16

Focus:
I Corinthians 11:11: "Yet in the Lord's fellowship woman is as essential to man as man to woman."

Although in much of this passage it sounds like Paul is saying that men are superior to women, in essence this verse is key to all. Women are as essential to men as men are to women. In other words, they are equal. This was radical for the first century, but it was typical for Christianity to be radical: Christians also treated slaves as brothers and sisters, for example.

In other parts of the Bible we also see how women are lifted up beyond the cultural customs that had held them back. Jesus gave them attention and dignity that would not normally have been accorded women. In God's sight, there is no male or female. Christianity teaches us that maleness and femaleness are both reflections of aspects of God. Women were the first to discover Christ's empty tomb. That's pretty special! As a woman, I'm grateful that God does not make distinctions of worth between the sexes.

Not Everything Is Good for Us

Readings:
Job 16
I Corinthians 10:14-33

Focus:
I Corinthians 10:23a: "'We are free to do anything,' you say. Yes, but not everything is good for us."

Many of the early Christians were happy that they had been released from the ceremonial laws of the Jewish religion, and were glad to proclaim that they were free to do anything. But Paul is quick here to remind them that not everything is good for them, and that not everything builds up the community. They must even more than before use their judgment (and turn to God in prayer) to know what they ought to do, and ought to refrain from doing.

The same is true of us. We may not be bound by a lot of rules and regulations, but we must always think of whether an action is helpful or kind or healthy. And above all, we must think of whether what we do helps bring God's kingdom closer, or works against it. I try to use this last test of my actions whenever I can (or, being a faulty human, whenever I remember it!)

It feels good when we know that we are doing what is for the good rather than what is for the bad.

God Provides a Way Out

Readings:
Job 15
I Corinthians 10:1-13

Focus:
I Corinthians 10:13b: "God keeps faith and will not let you be tested beyond your powers, but when the test comes he will at the same time provide a way out and so enable you to endure."

It is a fact that suffering happens in life. No matter how faithful we are, bad circumstances occur. We may be wonderful, selfless servants of God, and yet we may be stricken with disease, or discord in our families, or troubles in our jobs, etc.

It is beyond the scope of this blog post to discuss why God allows evil to happen to good people. But we can be assured that he does not leave us comfortless; when we turn to him, he fills us with his sustaining love.

And more than that, as Paul says, God will never let us suffer beyond what we can endure. He will always provide a way out. His care for us is so great that he will make sure of that. If it seems that our troubles are very hard, then it means that we are able to endure them! When they become too hard, God will provide a way out. And until then, he will be with us, loving us and comforting us. I know that it is so.

Of Few Days

Readings:
Job 14
I Corinthians 9:19-27

Focus:
Job 14:1-2a: "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He blossoms like a flower and withers away."

Johannes Brahms used these poignant words as part of his gorgeous German Requiem. Set to his lovely harmonies, these words always make me think.

It is true that, as the saying goes, "life is hard, and then you die." Sometimes it seems like there is no point. We just struggle through our short lives and find no reason for all our troubles.

Thanks to God that he does provide us a reason! He has a purpose for us that we may not understand. But since God is the epitome of goodness and justice, we can know that in the end, all will be good and right. Things may feel hard now, but we are heading towards a glorious ending when our life is over. And when we turn to him, God is there to comfort and sustain us as we go on our way.

Brahms also used these words, from Psalm 126: those who go forth weeping will return rejoicing.

Serving God by Doing What We Enjoy

Readings:
Job 13
I Corinthians 9:1-18

Focus:
I Corinthians 9:16: "Even if I preach the gospel, I can claim no credit for it; I cannot help myself; it would be agony for me not to preach."

Sometimes we think of service for God as something we have to do, but that we won't like it much. We think we have to put in some time doing things for others, maybe working at a homeless shelter or volunteering in some way at church, but probably doing something that we don't actually enjoy that much.

But in actuality God gives us gifts to use in his service, and when we are using those gifts, we are happy. We like what we're doing. As Paul, who was gifted with preaching ability, said, it would be agony to us not to do it. We just need to figure out how what we love to do anyway fits into serving God.

I like to sing. I'm miserable when I'm not singing. So one way I serve God is by helping lead the singing at church. It's a great combination of doing what I like and serving God at the same time. There are many other such combinations for other people, doing other things (for some people maybe it IS working at a homeless shelter). It works well.

Not Causing Anyone's Downfall

Readings:
Job 12
I Corinthians 8:4-13

Focus:
I Corinthians 8:2: "Therefore, if food is the downfall of a brother or sister, I will never eat meat again, for I will not be the cause of a brother or sister's downfall."

Paul is talking here about how people in his day were aware that meat that they bought in the market had first been sacrificed to idols. Many Christians didn't care about that, but for others, it bothered their consciences. So Paul said that for those who weren't troubled by it, rather than to say to themselves, "That's their problem," about the others, they should actually go out of their way not to set what would amount to a bad example by eating meat in front of those people.

In other words, Paul's advice is to live by the scruples of the people with the more tender consciences. This is in order to avoid causing the people with the more tender consciences to imitate the people with the more robust consciences and thus do what for the weaker-conscience people would be sin.

This is how far we are to go in living with love. We are to limit ourselves so that others may live.

Knowledge

Readings:
Job 11
I Corinthians 8:1-3

Focus:
I Corinthians 8:2: "If anyone fancies that he has some kind of knowledge, he does not yet know in the true sense of knowing."

In this passage, Paul is writing a warning against being too sure of our own knowledge and wisdom. As he says, knowledge inflates us, whereas love builds us up. This is interesting. Both make us bigger, but love makes us bigger and stronger, whereas knowledge makes us bigger, but on a very shaky foundation.

Our knowledge is really very limited. No matter how much knowledge we think we have, we nonetheless do not yet know in the true sense of knowing. It is God who truly knows. We may get glimpses of understanding, but our knowledge is nothing compared to God's knowledge. We can't rely on it to tell us all truth about important questions. Our knowledge is limited, and it is also fallible.

We must get our knowledge from God, and base it all on love. Then we will have a secure foundation.

What Matters

Readings:
Job 10
I Corinthians 7

Focus:
I Corinthians 7:19: "Circumcision or uncircumcision is neither here nor there; what matters is to keep God's commands."

Paul is in the midst of a discussion of whether or not it is important to change one's external marks or condition in life when one becomes a Christian. Circumcision had been one of the most important indications of belonging to the religious community. What Paul says is that circumcision, or any other external mark or condition in life, has nothing to do with whether or not you belong to God.

Instead, Paul says, the important thing is to keep God's commands. And the greatest command of them all, Jesus said, is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. The second commandment, he said, was to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is what matters.

I Will Not Let Anything Make Free with Me

Readings:
Job 9
I Corinthians 6:12-20

Focus:
I Corinthians 6:12b: "No doubt I am free to do anything, but I for one will not let anything make free with me."

When Paul says, "No doubt I am free to do anything," he is referring to the fact that the Corinthian Christians were relying on their freedom from many older religious laws. They had been set free from these by their new covenant in Christ.

However, Paul reminds them that not everything is good, and moreover, behaviors and habits can have a way of taking control of a person. As Paul says, "I for one will not let anything make free with me."

And Christ died for us, to make us look to God as if we were good. A response of gratitude would be for us to do our best to act good. In verses 19 and 20, Paul says, "You do not belong to yourselves; you were bought at a price." What a costly price it was, too. We owe it to Christ to give him our best efforts at goodness.

Washed Clean

Readings:
Job 8
I Corinthians 6:1-11

Focus:
I Corinthians 6:9b:11a: "Make no mistake: no fornicator or idolater, no adulterer or sexual pervert, no thief, extortioner, drunkard, slanderer, or swindler will possess the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you have been washed clean."

First Paul gives a list of examples of the types of wrongdoings that disqualify people from eternal life with God. It sounds pretty bad. But then he says something hopeful, because he's speaking to Christians, people who have been saved and who expect to have that eternal life with God: "Such were some of you."

If they had been like that, then it's maybe it's not hopeless for other people like that!

And in fact, it's not, because Paul finishes his sentence: "Such were some of you; but you have been washed clean, you have been dedicated to God, you have been justified through the name of the Lord Jesus and through the Spirit of our God."

"Justified" means "made to look to God as if you were just or righteous." So in spite of being a pervert or a thief or a slanderer or any other such dire wrongdoer, or a liar or an angry person or a selfish person, when we give ourselves to God and are sorry for what we have done, we are washed clean; we look to God as if we were righteous, as if we had not done those things.

That's a good deal worth taking.

A Serious Situation

Readings:
Job 7
I Corinthians 5

Focus:
I Corinthians 5:2a: "And you are proud of yourselves! You ought to have gone into mourning."

Paul has been writing to the Christians at Corinth, who have been having some behavior problems, and who have been exhibiting some attitude problems as well. He points out a flagrant misbehavior that has been going on among them by two of their members and which they have been tolerating.

What Paul says about this is striking. He says that they ought to have gone into mourning.

We often forget the serious nature of sin. When we sin--and it does not have to be sexual sin only, as it was in this case--we have offended against God himself. We have rebelled against God, and have in essence slapped God in the face, saying that we want to do what we want to do, and we don't care what God wants.

When we behave like that, or when those in our close community behave like that, it is so serious that we ought to go into mourning until we are sorry. Our attitude needs to be different. This is not just to shame us, but it is for our own good. When we, or our brothers and sisters, have thumbed our noses at the God of the universe, we, or they, are in a perilous situation. It takes mourning to bring us back!

That's how serious it is.

All Good Things Are Gifts

Readings:
Job 6
I Corinthians 4

Focus:
I Corinthians 4:7b: "What do you possess that was not given you? And if you received it as a gift, why take the credit to yourself?"

Not only do we have all of our material possessions, as well as our physical attributes, such as health or strength, because they are God's gifts to us, but also we have our personality traits and character qualities for this reason. In addition, our ability to achieve good things comes as a gift from God as well.

It is always tempting to be proud of ourselves whenever we do good things. But in reality we are able to do these things because of God working through us. On our own we are full of failings and would not be able to succeed. It is only in reliance on God, and through his strength, that we are able to achieve good things.

Sometimes we're not aware that we've been relying on him, or that he has worked through us. But that's part of what makes him even more fantastic--he doesn't always wait for our acknowledgement in order to help us.

Our response should always be thanks to the God who gives us so many gifts.

It Is God Who Counts

Readings:
Job 5
I Corinthians 3

Focus:
I Corinthians 3:7: "It is not the gardeners with their planting and watering who count, but God who makes it grow."

Paul has become aware that the Christians at Corinth have divided into factions, some championing him, others championing Apollos, another Christian leader of the time. Their partisanship is so strong that it is dividing their church. It is not a division over essential doctrine, such as whether or not Jesus is the Son of God, but merely over who is more important.

Paul wants the Corinthians to know that this sort of discord keeps them from growing spiritually. As he says, when they are distracted this way, they are still on the human level only. There is so much more they could be open to, if only they would realize that what matters is not which human leader they follow, but God himself. He is the one to whom they owe allegiance, and to whom they should pay attention. The human leaders are only there to point to God.

That is how it should be with all true church leaders. It is not they who count, but God.

All That God Lavishes on Us

Readings:
Job 4
I Corinthians 2

Focus:
I Corinthians 2:12: "And we have received this Spirit from God, not the spirit of the world, so that we may know all that God has lavished on us."

God has given us his Spirit for many reasons, but one of them is kind of amazing: so that we may know all that he has lavished on us. His Spirit is utterly different from the spirit of the world, and the wisdom of his Spirit will seem very different from worldly wisdom.

But besides this, his Spirit will let us know everything that God has lavished on us. Not just provided for us. Not just given us. But lavished on us! When we give our lives to him, and open ourselves to his direction, he lavishes blessings on us.

We may still have hardships, and troubles of various kinds. Our lives may not suddenly become rosy and perfect. But we will have blessings lavished on us; that is certain. I know this; I have experienced it in the midst of illness!

God lavishes good things on us. We can be sure of that.

God's Wisdom Vs. the World's Wisdom

Readings:
Job 3
I Corinthians 1

Focus:
I Corinthians 1:20b: "God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish!"

Sometimes when we think about the ways that the Bible says that we ought to live, it doesn't sound "smart" or practical. It doesn't seem to be what makes sense with what current thinking is about the best way to conduct our lives.

But that's because God's ways are different from human ways. And God's ways are better. They are wiser. God is rightside up. It is the world that is upside down.

If we follow God's ways, we will be guaranteed to be more deeply happy, satisfied, and content than if we lived any other way. It may not be what we expect, but it will be what we need, and what makes for our true happiness.

Expert in Goodness

Readings:
Job 2
Romans 16:17-27

Focus:
Romans 16:19b: "I want you to be expert in goodness, but innocent of evil."

We are to be expert in goodness. In order to be this way, though, we need to know what goodness is. We can't just be naively nice, thinking we sort of instinctively know what it means to be good. No, Paul says we should be expert in goodness. That means that we need to understand it completely. We must read and study the Bible, so that we will know what goodness is.

As Paul says earlier in verse 17, we must avoid those who lead people astray, contrary to the teachings we have received. In order to recognize this, we must know the teachings we have received. We must be expert in them. That is the only way to be truly good.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Readings:
Job 1
Romans 16:1-16

Focus:
Job 1:21: "Naked I came from the womb, naked I shall return whence I came. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

The ancient Hebrew, Job, had amassed many riches, but he lost them all in one day. Yet he knew that things that we love, such as material wealth, family members, or good health, are uncertain. We are not assured of their permanence with us.

Moreover, God alone knows whether or not the presence of these loved people and things in our lives is good for us. He may have some purpose that we are not aware of, and we may lose the things we love, without knowing that we are heading toward some greater good without those things.

Or, because, through the free will of humankind, we have allowed sin into the world, and creation has become broken, some evil takes some good things away from us. But God will work to turn the result of the evil to our good, even though we have lost what we loved. I know that I have found this to be true as I have experienced both cancer and serious heart problems.

In all of these circumstances, God remains good. Job was wise enough to know this. When we are beset with loss and hardship, may we have the trust nonetheless to say with Job, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."