Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 3-4
“Time is running out, I’ll give it one last shot.” Deuteronomy 3 contains an interesting exchange between Moses and the Lord, one that more parents should note. It seems the more Moses spoke to the people about Canaan, the more it “flung a craving on him.” With no more than two months before the entrance into the Promised Land was to commence, Moses is not only confronted with the penalty of his error, but also with the immediacy of his own death. In Deuteronomy 3:23-26, Moses pleads with the Lord to relent and allow him to enter the Promised Land. After all Moses had done in leading and pleading for the people, one would think God would be minded to change his mind, but one would be wrong. God’s response? “Enough of that! Speak no more to me of this matter.” When parents tell their children “no” or to do some thing, they should not bear with their children’s relentless assault for them to change their minds. We need more parents who will say “Enough of that!”
New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 1-2
Without question the Corinthian church was one of Paul’s favorites and most well loved. Paul’s work among the Corinthians was extensive and exhausting. At times these brethren remind me of spoiled children, never satisfied and running about after whomever they hear last. Perhaps it was this childlike character of the brethren that caused Paul to love them so, realizing their great potential despite their lack of maturity. From the outset, Paul admonished the Corinthians to be one heart and mind. Their childishness manifest itself in sectarianism, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” “I am of Christ.” Such would be remedied if all brethren would “speak the same thing,” being “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” It sounds somewhat redundant, but there is no cure for division like unity. That is, to speak as with one voice. For Paul, that one voice was Christ’s. Religious division is not cured by compromise or salved by the sacrifice of principle. Neither is it solved by separation. The only solution for religious division is to speak the same thing!
Leave a Reply