Jude (ESV) by Wordle*

1 Corinthians 1 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Jude 1-25; 1 Corinthians 1:1-31.

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus…” (1 Corinthians 1:4).

I can hardly believe this statement. We all know that the Corinthian church is the example of weak churches. They had division, misunderstanding, immorality, weakness, confusion, questions, sin. If you want to find a church with problems, Corinth was the place to go. I’ve heard preachers rail against Corinth. I’ve heard preachers rail against churches like Corinth. And yet, Paul said, “I give thanks to my God always for you…” WOW!

I’ll tell you what I get out of this. Even as a child of God, I’m kind of messed up. I still struggle with weaknesses and sins. I have confusion, doubts, questions. Yet, this tells me that Paul would still give thanks for me. Why? Because I’m great? No, because I’m in Jesus and His grace is working on me. I’m not perfect. But I am better. And that isn’t because of me. That is because of the grace of God given me in Christ Jesus. If Paul could give thanks for me, I guess I can too.

I am so glad to be reminded of that today. If you are in Christ Jesus, I hope this is a good reminder to you as well.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click here to add your input.

——————————————-

*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:16.

I have to admit that 2 Corinthians 7:4 shocked me. Paul said, “I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.”

“I have great pride in you?” What? Isn’t this the congregation we all go to as the epitome of messed up churches? Isn’t this the congregation that was filled with division, had immaturity and weakness, botched the Lord’s Supper, messed up the miraculous gifts, accepted a highly immoral man? Yet, Paul is proud of them. How can that be?

Surely, this pride comes partially from their repentance with the immoral man. That is what Paul goes on to talk about in the rest of the chapter. But still. I mean they were clearly working on things but am I honestly to believe they had gone from poster church for dysfunction to example congregation between these two letters? I don’t think so. Yet, Paul was proud of them. He was expressing his pride in them.

Here’s what I learn, whether dealing with congregations or Christians, we look for improvements. This is a growth process, not a sprint to perfection. Sadly, we all too often treat Christians and churches like the dad teaching his child to swim who keeps backing up and backing up so the child can’t actually get to him. Sure, the person or church has improved here and there, but look at all that is still wrong with them. That is often how we think. We need to express our pride that they are improving just like Paul did. That, of course, will only happen when we are genuinely proud of them. That will only happen when we don’t see ourselves as their judge trying to fix them to our satisfaction.

I need to work on this.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?