2022_05_09 Insight Post- Kim Feld

  -   May 9, 2022

This week’s reading- 1 Corinthians 3-4

As we read through First Corinthians, remember that this is a letter, not a book with chapters as we have it in our Bibles. So even though we read the chapter and verse divisions, there is a continuous bridge between them. In our reading, chapter three carries on the thought from chapter two. Chapter two ended with Paul’s words about the mind of Christ. To possess the mind of Christ, you must be led by and responsive to the Holy Spirit.

Paul begins chapter three by telling the Corinthians that when he first met them, he couldn’t talk with them as people who lived by the Spirit because they were beginning their relationship with Jesus and were still “worldly.” He uses the analogy of giving them milk instead of solid food as we do with infants. That was to be expected, but the problem that Paul addresses is that they are still living in infancy. In verse three, Paul says, ^“You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?” (NIV). Divisions were occurring among the people over who they “followed” – Paul, Apollos, or Peter – but the point that I would like us to focus on for a minute is Paul’s assessment that if jealousy and quarreling are present, you are worldly. In other words, you are being controlled by your sinful nature and not the Spirit.

Take a look at this verse in the Amplified Bible: ^3 “You are still worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]?” Paul is saying that the people are not dealing with each other in a way that shows the Spirit is leading them. Instead, they are acting as if their faith hasn’t changed them. This stopped me short in my reading and was a sobering thought. Every moment of every single day, you and I have a choice to make: will I allow myself to be controlled by the Holy Spirit living within me, or will I act as though my faith has no impact on my life?

We are surrounded by jealousy and quarreling every day! Sadly, there is often no difference between Christians and non-Christians. As I have watched how people who profess Jesus have spoken to and about each other on social media over the last few years, the truth of this verse has played out repeatedly. But I can’t point the finger at “them” without looking at this in my own life and recognizing that I can be guilty of this too.

I want to challenge each of us to take a hard look at our lives today and ask, “Is there solid evidence in the way I interact with others today that my faith in Jesus has changed me?”