An uneasy beginning to this day, Father, with the darkness and the rain and with the potential of more storms heading our way, it is unsettling. I trust You, Creator God, to sustain us through these troubling times.
1 Corinthians 16:10-14 (<<click here to read the passage)
Recently, I’ve been wrestling with how we respond to the world around us. And as God does regularly, He is tying my work here with something else I am working on: my sermon.
This coming Sunday, I will speak about prayer, specifically the Lord’s Prayer. In examining “Thy Kingdom come…” Matthew 6:10a KJV as followers of Christ, we should have a burning desire to expand His Kingdom. But do we care that people are dying all over the world with no knowledge of our great God? Some children have never heard of Jesus. They cannot tell you a single Bible story. They’ve never heard a hymn sung or Scripture read. They have no idea that God loves them. So, yes, we are to pray for them, but more than that, we are to go to them. We need to be there to tell them. Our hearts should long for people to know and experience the God we know.
That’s one thing – to go – but what if they come instead? Are we prepared for that?
This passage in 1 Corinthians got me thinking. Here, Paul is sending his young protégé, Timothy, to the church in Corinth. I find it interesting that in the very first sentence, he says,

“…see to it that [you put him at ease, so that] he has nothing to fear in regard to you, for he is [devotedly] doing the Lord’s work, just as I am. So allow no one to treat him with disdain [as if he were inconsequential]. But send him off [cordially, and speed him on his way] in peace vs10-11 AMP

I don’t think Paul would have mentioned it if there was not some trepidation that they would make Timothy uneasy, treating him with disdain and as if he were inconsequential. After all, he was young and impressionable. He was not as “seasoned” as Paul.
Verses 13-14 set the parameters for the realm in which they should act. As you read them, ask yourself, “Are these my parameters?”

Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong. Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us]. AMP

And here is what I have been wrestling with: What if they come knowing nothing or, at the very most, very little about Jesus and the “workings” of the church – where to sit, how to act, when to be quiet, how to talk. In most of our experience we know, but many of them may not. What should our response be?

Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us].

If we are to reach the world – to expand Christ’s Kingdom – forcing them into molds of our own making will be counterproductive at best and disenfranchising at worst.
May we take Colossians 3:14-15a to heart.

Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others]. Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise].

Amen.

Apr 2nd, 2024, Tues, 12:52 pm