Practically before his greeting is dry on the papyrus, Paul gets after the nonsense of taking sides in favor of a particular pastor or teacher in his first letter the church in Corinth. He’s having none of it because the center of our attention should always be Christ.
I think you’ll agree that this kind of stuff goes on in churches all the time. Divisions can be the downfall of a local body and can render the witness of the congregation embarrassing. I’m extremely grateful to have a pastor who settles for nothing less than unity in our church body. Over the years, I have seen what a great benefit this is to our church with very little, almost non-existent in-fighting.
Further in the first chapter, Paul spends quite a bit of time comparing worldly and Godly wisdom and strength. I find this passage very encouraging. Sometimes it’s hard to find our way and this passage tells me that if I’m doing the exact opposite of what the world thinks is right, I must be on the right path.
And probably my favorite passage in chapter 1 and something I also see lived out every day by my pastor is about boasting in Christ. I don’t think can be overstated. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that were it not for His mercies, we would be consumed; His compassions are new every morning.
We constantly undervalue the power and perfection of Christ. James tells us that all good things come from above. We are nothing compared to His greatness and I believe until we wrap our minds around that we will constantly fall into that lie that says everything is about us.
It’s not.
It’s all about Him.
What about you? I would love to hear your thoughts about making Him the center of our attention in the comments below. You can check out the Lifting Her Voice podcast and listen to the text yourself!
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