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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, August 3, 2023
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :One Body with Many Members [1] Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 12:12-20 (ESV) "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." Message:
The previous Scriptural passage began a discussion about the diversity of the experience and expression of the Holy Spirit in different people; for both cover a wide range. The analogy is easy enough to grasp; like a person, or even a complex machine, the means by which we show God’s glory to the world has a lot of dissimilar moving parts.
The danger Paul seeks to meet is that a person might feel unimportant in the great scheme of religious expression, for we are torn between two equally misguided characteristics of human nature: our tendency to place ourselves at the center of the universe, and our tendency to organize into hierarchical groups. Raw lust for power — the untempered need to be seen as “important” — tend to rise in a hierarchy. Nietzsche, the great German philosopher so beloved by the Nazis, understood this better than anyone, and wrote at great length about the “will to power.”
Jesus washing feet
If you wonder why political systems, or even corporations, are so beset by mediocrity and a lack of honesty, the importance of “will to power” explains it. Leaders tend to be people who are power hungry. Unfortunately, ambition is inimical to integrity and, if we are not careful, will overcome it. And the opposite also obtains, for there is also a tendency for those with less ambition to focus glory on a leader. Most people want to follow someone; they begin to believe what someone says, rather than what the Bible says, especially if the person tells them what they want to hear.
This is not to say that all church leadership is corrupt, self-seeking, or power hungry. Rather, it is to remind us that the leaders of a church are only parts of the body. And none of them is the head; for we have one head; but rather, they are servants:
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:9-12.)
The church in Corinth had forgotten this and had lapsed into human power politics; it had even gone so far that some charismatic leaders had splintered groups off into sects, who identified their belief primarily with the leader, rather than with Christ. This was much of the reason Paul wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
It is critical to our worship that we feel our place as equals before God, for we all fall short of His glory. In Righteousness 101, we all get the same grade: F. Does Christ judge a president higher than a beggar? No, and in fact, the humble found His message easier to hear and accept.
All of us should use our gifts fully and not become embarrassed if we are put in positions of leadership, nor ashamed if we serve unnoticed; this is the essence of Paul’s message.
Meditation : Prayer : Oh God, hold me in the palm of your hand. I pray that you will mold me into what you want me to be. May I joyfully fill the role you have given to me and feel your peace deep in my soul, today and always, |
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