This afternoon, I sat down to spend a bit of time with Jesus. I opened up my Bible...well, the Bible on my phone.....
Please don't judge me....
..... and started reading where I had left off on Monday....1 Corinthians 12. I had it set to the Message translation and a whole new thought and perspective from this chapter popped out at me.
Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul spent a great deal of time answering questions from the Corinthian church. Questions like: Is it ok to eat food that has been sacrificed to an idol? Should women wear coverings? Should men wear coverings? Should he, Paul, be paid or receive accommodations and/or food for his work? Should church members marry? Should they stay single?
And on and on.
And then at the end of chapter 11, Paul says to the Corinthians, "the rest of your questions I will answer when I see you again in person"....and chapter 12 opens with this:
"What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable."
I love this.
Because this is how it reads to me beginning at the end of Chapter 11 and going into the beginning of Chapter 12:
"Ok, enough of trying to sort out the do's and don'ts, the fine lines, the tit for tat. I will answer more of those questions later when I see you all again. What I would like to focus on now is how God's Spirit works in our lives. When God is at work in our lives, then we won't worry so much about the nit picky questions. See, we are a body all working together in unity, each part of equal importance and very much needed for the healthy function of the body." (This is my interpretation of what I read.)
I hope I am not reading into this too much, but then, this is my commentary ;)
You know what I found so encouraging about this? While there are definitely some issues that need to be dealt with, our focus needs to rather be on how to better allow God's Spirit to work inside of you and me so that the body of Christ is functioning at it's maximum capacity.
Paul goes on to speak of the different parts and how to walk in unity with one another....
And then comes the end of Chapter 12....
And it gets better.....
He ends with this...
"But now I want to lay out a far better way for you."
I had to smile when I read that last sentence of Chapter 12, because I knew what was coming next.
Chapter 13
The Love Chapter!
Paul goes from addressing some of the petty issues, to turning the church's gaze towards walking in unity with each other, and then to LOVE!
I love that! Because how often is my focus drawn towards the petty issues of life? How often do I get hung up on small issues? Do they need to be dealt with? Most likely, BUT they shouldn't be my focus. Instead, my focus should be on walking in unity with my brothers and sisters and this done on the foundation of LOVE!
Gotta love it! I hope it encourages you like it did me! Let go of the small things and grab a hold of the big thing, LOVE itself. It's amazing, when unity and love become the focus, how quickly those small things seem to not really matter so much anymore.
Blessings!
