To You Who Have Been Called By God

Meditations in First Corinthians 

April 18, 2022

To You Who Have Been Called By God

He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

1 Corinthians 1:8

Read: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

The passion of the Apostle Paul’s life was Jesus. In this opening passage, Paul mentions Jesus eight times in nine verses. However, there is more going on than just Paul talking about the love of his life. At the time of this letter, being called a Corinthian was an insult to decent people. Corinth was the center of travel and sea trade. It was multicultural, and every sin imaginable was prevalent, especially sexual sins, as the god of the Corinthians was the love goddess Aphrodite. There was a great temptation in the Christian church to lower their moral standards to those of the community around them. In addition to the moral challenges, divisions were tearing at the fabric of the church, as their teachers were adopting the ways of the world and measuring their success by the size of their following.

Paul has many, many issues to deal with in his letters to the church in Corinth. He begins by building his foundation on Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. He then affirms for the Corinthian church (and us) that God has given them “every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 7) With our foundation in Christ and God’s spiritual gifts, we have all we need to be faithful.

My Takeaway: Robin Mark, the Christian singer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, captures Paul’s passion for Jesus in his praise song, Jesus, All for Jesus. I keep these words close by and often incorporate them into my daily prayers.

Jesus, all for Jesus

All I am and have

And ever hope to be

All of my ambitions, hopes, and plans

I surrender these into your hands

For it’s only in Your will that I am free 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.