Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 10:1-11:34.

What a great lesson at the end of today’s reading.

Discipline is tough to endure. I never quite believed my dad when he said, “Son, this hurts me worse than it does you.” I’ve been on the other side of that discipline now and I still don’t believe him. However, I understand that the purpose behind my parent’s discipline was not simply to hurt me. It wasn’t just to inflict some kind of pain or inconvenience. They intended it to be for my good. They were striving to teach me so I could grow up and be a productive part of society and God’s kingdom.

1 Corinthians 11:32 demonstrates that very same point about God and His discipline. “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” A great judgment is coming. In the end, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Those who have surrendered their lives to Him will enter into His eternal glory. Those who haven’t will enter eternal destruction. Between now and then, God is striving to prepare us for eternal life. That means He is going to discipline us. He is going to offer temporal judgments (for lack of a better term). What happens in our life is for our long term good. No matter what is going on, whether good or bad from our perspective, we need to look for God’s discipline within it. What can we learn from what we are facing in order to submit to God more fully.

Even the hard things, the bad things, the tough things are for our good, if we’ll let them be. God will use all of these to conform us to the image of His Son (cf. Romans 8:28). But we must see the purpose behind God’s discipline. God doesn’t discipline because He enjoys inflicting hardship or pain. God disciplines because He wants us to grow and learn and not endure the same final judgment as those in the world. That means when difficult, hard things happen, especially as a consequence of my own wrong doing, I need to thank God for the opportunity to grow and avoid the final judgment by His grace.

Thank you, God, for Your continuing discipline.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 8:1-9:27.

I was trucking right along through today’s reading. It was one of those days where I was in a “yeah, I’ve read that before” kind of mood (not a good Bible reading mood to be in). But the very last verse smacked me down.

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

In the past, my big preaching problem has been thinking about how everything applies to my audience. I would seek out what their problems were and swoop in like a spiritual super hero trying to fix everyone else. How easy it is to preach and teach in the second person: you need to do this, you must stop that, you need to change. How easy it is to spend all my time trying to fix others. How easy it is to spend all my time trying to lead others.

There are two problems with that.

1.I can’t give what I don’t have.

This probably hit me because of the Bible class lesson I taught yesterday from Max Dawson’s excellent class book on Kingdom Leaders. We studied the life of Josiah who became king at 8, sought the Lord at 16, but didn’t start impacting change in Judah until 20. The whole point behind the lesson was before we can be an influence for good in anyone else’s life, we must first work on ourselves. We might think, “What was wrong with Josiah? Why didn’t he jump on it and get busy right away? Why wait four years?” Those four years were probably the most important part of Josiah’s life. If he hadn’t spent those four years seeking the Lord, he probably would not have been able to impact the change in Judah, squashing idolatry and renewing their covenant with God.

I can give what I don’t have. If I don’t work on me, then my second person teaching will be empty, hollow, impotent. I need to work on me first.

2. If I’m not maintaining me, I’ll be disqualified.

How easy it is to reach a certain level and think, “Alright, I’ve done my four years of seeking the Lord, I’ve got me under control. Now its time to start helping others.” This is a noble motivation and desire, but if I quit working on me, then I’ll end up disqualified. When I start thinking that I’m standing, that is when I’ll fall. If I don’t sharpen the spiritual saw each day, I’ll become dull and ineffective. It is so easy to think we’ve finally arrived and then quit really working on ourselves.

I’ve been told and I believe that we are like trees. If we quit growing, that means we’re dead. We may still be walking around. I may still be teaching in second person, but I’m not accomplishing anything and I’m rotting from the inside out. All it will take is one big, deadly gust of wind and storm to knock me over for all to see the rot.

I’m thankful for today’s reminder. I need to spend today working on me. If I do, God may use me to help someone else, but at the very least, He’ll be strengthening me to glorify Him and surrender to His Son. That’s what I want. I want to run the race. I want to win the prize. That means I have to start with me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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