Today’s Reading: Joshua 23; Joshua 24; Psalm 44; 1 Corinthians 11
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-18
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
Observation: Ouch! Paul lowers the boom! Imagine hearing this: "Your meetings do more harm than good." Time to readjust your church. The point I get here is that it is possible to start with good intentions and end up way off track. It is possible for a church to move in such a way that it ends up doing more harm than good. And one indicator of this is what is mentioned in verse 18: "divisions among you." When any church allows or even encourages divisions (some churches specialize in division) or distinctions between believers, their work is a destructive work on the whole. Yes, they may do some good things, but the overall impact on the kingdom of God is a negative one.
Application: Love God and love people. If in my loving God I should ever stop loving people or accepting people, reevaluation is required. If I see myself or my group as superior, I must repent of my pride and seek to return to humility. That is the only path to doing God's productive work.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for the reminders to stay humble. I want to be a part of something that does much more good than harm. In fact, I don't want to do any harm at all. Help me to love people and accept people as You do -- with wisdom, grace, and discretion. And help me to do great good to all.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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