Tonights topic: FEAR FACTORS IN PARENTING
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Devotional Thought for Today....
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL: “INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 3”
READ: 1 Corinthians 3 (Use your own Bible and/or translation; or use the passage printed below.)
THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:
In the third chapter of 1 Corinthians, it’s author the Apostle Paul, begins to make a clear, definitive distinction between believers: 1] those who continue to live in worldly ways and 2] those who live by Spirit.
Clearly, the way we live our life -- whether worldly or spiritually -- will be reflected in how we express ourselves in church, as well as in general Christian service. Paul will use the Corinthian obsession with leaders as a case in point. The wisdom of the Cross transcends both personalities and cultures. Unfortunately, the Corinthians had the habit of drawing battles lines of division among themselves based upon certain ministers of the Gospel.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
● Who or what is in charge of your life?
● Do you follow the way of God and our Savior, is your life that of passionate disciple/follower?
● Or, does the world and day-to-day issues and wants and idols get the majority of your true passions, free time, and soul?
● Are you having trouble understanding the difference?
Tomorrow, we’ll begin to explore and explain the difference.
Prayer:
Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen
--The Lord’s Prayer, Holy Bible, as taught by Jesus
1 Brothers and sisters, in the past I could not talk to you as I talk to spir- itual people. I had to talk to you as I would to people without the Spirit -- babies in Christ. 2 The teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food, because you were not able to take solid food. And even now you are not ready. 3 You are still not spiritual, because there is jealousy and quarreling among you, and this shows that you are not spiritual. You are acting like people of the world. 4 One of you says, "I belong to Paul," and another says, "I belong to Apollos." When you say things like this, you are acting like people of the world. 5 Is Apollos important? No! Is Paul important? No! We are only servants of God who helped you believe. Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. 6 I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made it grow. 7 So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God, who makes things grow, is important. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose, and each will be rewarded for his own work. 9 We are God's workers, working together; you are like God's farm, God's house. 10 Using the gift God gave me, I laid the foundation of that house like an expert builder. Others are building on that foundation, but all peo- ple should be careful how they build on it. 11 The foundation that has already been laid is Jesus Christ, and no one can lay down any other foundation. 12 But if people build on that foundation, using gold, silver, jewels, wood, grass, or straw, 13 their work will be clearly seen, because the Day of Judgmentn will make it visible. That Day will appear with fire, and the fire will test everyone's work to show what sort of work it was. 14 If the building that has been put on the foundation still stands, the builder will get a reward. 15 But if the building is burned up, the builder will suffer loss. The builder will be saved, but it will be as one who escaped from a fire. 16 Don't you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person, because God's temple is holy and you are that temple. 18 Do not fool yourselves. If you think you are wise in this world, you should become a fool so that you can become truly wise, 19 because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It is written in the Scriptures, "He catches those who are wise in their own clever traps." 20 It is also written in the Scriptures, "The Lord knows what wise people think. He knows their thoughts are just a puff of wind." 21 So you should not brag about human leaders. All things belong to you: 22 Paul, Apollos, and Peter; the world, life, death, the present, and the future -- all these belong to you. 23 And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. | 1 Corinthians 3 (The Message) 1 But for right now, friends, I'm completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You're acting like infants in relation to Christ, 2 capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I'll nurse you since you don't seem capable of anything more. 3 As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything's going your way? 4 When one of you says, "I'm on Paul's side," and another says, "I'm for Apollos," aren't you being totally infantile? 5 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us - servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. 7 It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. 8 Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. 9 What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working. 10 Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! 11 Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. 12 Take particular care in picking out your building materials. 13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. 14 If your work passes inspection, fine; 15 if it doesn't, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won't be torn out; you'll survive - but just barely. 16 You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? 17 No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple. 18 Don't fool yourself. Don't think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. 19 Be God's fool - that's the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It's written in Scripture, He exposes the chicanery of the chic. 20 The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls. 21 I don't want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift - 22 Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future - all of it is yours, 23 and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God. |
