OF CHRIST

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Why do we rely on people so much on our lives?

We have a bad tendency to place too much hope in others who are flawed in their ability to deliver the things we need. This unhealthy reliance may be on elected government officials at the federal, state, or local levels. It could be in leaders within the Christian church like pastors or deacons or elders. It could also be an attachment to non-profit organizations and the services they provide. And it could be an over dependency on family members to give help. Typically, we find it is a combination of one or more of these sources.

The Corinthian Christians had developed this issue within the church and their individual choices of which leader they would most closely pledge allegiance to was splitting the church from the inside out. Within the first three chapters of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, we learn that some of the believers were committed to follow Paul while others had chosen one of two other apostles, Apollos or Cephas (Peter) to be loyal to. The rest of the Christians had decided to follow Jesus and they were the ones who had it right and so Paul sought to encourage all other Jesus followers in Corinth to place the fullest measure of their faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone, not human leaders.

After all, what could any mere worldly leader provide that Jesus couldn’t?

Jesus had no rival and He possessed the very power of God because He was of God, His Father and the Father of all mankind. There was (and is) nothing beyond the power of His hand and He could make anything happen if He willed to do so. We see this over and over and over again when we study the Gospels and read of all the mighty acts Jesus performed.

Truly, Jesus can do anything for those who believe in Him, those who are of Christ, and in Him, a Christian has everything they could ever hope for, all they could ever need, and well beyond what they deserve. Through Christ, we have the promise of eternity, the sting of death removed by the deliverance from sin’s penalty through Jesus’ shed blood on Calvary’s cross.

In other words, all things belong to a Christian because they are of the Christ who holds all things in His hand, things which include any leader like Paul or Apollos or Cephas, the world itself, life and death, and the present and the future. Jesus is the Lord over all created things, placed there by God the Creator.

So let’s stop placing our hope in the world, in the people there or any other thing the world offers. Let’s stop behaving like we are in need when we have a Lord who will meet our every need in accordance with His will and will do so because the person in need is of Him, is of Christ.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com