As we round off 1 Corinthians,
there are two verses I’m drawn to. Verse
13 sounds very militant and in our fairly politically correct world, it seems a
little heavy handed, although we get some relief from the nice and comforting
verse 14.
But we must read these two
verses together as instruction on how we should live our everyday lives.
Being watchful
Watching for Christ return
everyday, constantly looking toward it.
Standing firm in the Faith
We should remain confident of
His return and as such stick to the life of righteousness which is now ours.
Be strong and courageous
Face the challenges of living as
a Christian with strength and courage.
Christ will strengthen you enough to do all things. (The Greek gives a hint of being a ‘real man’,
rather than specifically courage.)
Do everything with Love
Looking back at 1 Cor 13 again
we can recall the futility of any action without love, so in all things, we
must seek to love. And as God is love
and Jesus’ death and resurrection is the ultimate display of love, doing
everything with love must surely have something to do with sharing the Gospel?
(lay member of staff)