Gospel Reading Plan: Acts 15-16
Paul’s First Letter to
the Corinthians: DAY 16
READ 1 Corinthians
12:12-30
In your journal, write
down the things that stick out to you from today’s Bible reading. Respond to
what God shows you as you feel led.
These verses were so necessary for the Corinthian church
because pride was an obvious struggle among them. They needed to be reminded
that comparison, jealousy and arrogance had no place among the gifts, and in
fact, such thinking would greatly hinder the effectiveness of the gifts and
could cause much damage. Through the brilliant analogy of the physical body,
Paul pointed out the ridiculousness of comparison and arrogance. To say, “Why
does he have the gift of prophesy
while all I’m good at is helping out
at events” is like a hand saying, “Oh how I wish I were a mouth”! To take pride
in one’s area of gifting is no different than your eye saying to your hand,
“Hey hand! I don’t need you!” If such behaviour could and did happen, we would
be nothing but body parts strewn across the lawn! Likewise the church is a body
and we must function as a healthy body or there will be much damage and death
to ministry and effectiveness.
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
1.
Allow the Holy Spirit to convict you
from what you have read today. Ask Him to reveal areas of comparison and
arrogance in your heart and repent of these things.
2.
How have you caused disunity among the
body through the words that you have said whether it is what you have said
about your own church or other churches in the community? This, too, requires
repentance. Ask God to show you the damage that your words have done or could
do.
3.
Ask the Lord to give you a new way of
thinking so that unity becomes your heart’s desire. Whether comparison,
jealousy or arrogance is your tendency, ask God how you can fight against this
and start protecting the unity of the church.
