A Kick in the Pants

Read: 1 Corinthians 15

"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Examine:

Time and pressure have a way of eating away at the hope of Christian faith. Trials of life, the pain in the world, and tormenting questions can test even the strongest people of faith. This was the case in the church of Corinth and many found themselves having lost their hope. Paul writes this section of his letter to remind them of the basics of their faith, encourage them to get a grip, and implore them to stand their ground.

Apply:

Losing my way is almost guaranteed. As long as I continue my life in this world I will be constantly tempted to doubt my faith, question God's will, and succumb to temptation. Dark days will find me. Paul offers three things that I need to remember when I find myself stuck in a pit and struggling to find hope.

First, believe that my faith is real. The heart of all depression and anxiety starts with a little seed of doubt that maybe all the things I have believed about Christ and faith is junk. I start to fear that all this Christian stuff is some great deception I have fallen victim to and in the end it is of no real value. Once this seed is planted, life for a Christian quickly unravels. The first rule of getting out of a pit is to return to the basics of my salvation and allow God to assure me of my hope.

Second, get back in my right mind. Losing hope has a way of creating desperation for relief. Desperation for relief is a great breeding ground for stupid choices. Stupid choices are always accompanied by ignorant people willing to affirm my stupid decisions. Getting back in my right mind will always necessitate dealing with bad thought patterns and stepping away from people who are feeding me with bad advice.

Finally, get back in the fight. Everything that satan throws at me is always designed to get me out of the fight. In the final verse of this chapter I can hear Paul screaming to me, "Stand your ground and don't hold back. Throw yourself into the work of the Master. Be absolutely confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort."

Pray:

Ok, so I have been a little less than joyful the last few days. For the past several weeks You have been pressing me to take bolder stances on Your word, to pray bigger prayers, and to ask people to make bigger commitments. As that has happened and I have responded in obedience to Your requests, satan has thrown everything he has at me. He knows my weaknesses and he has hit them with painful precision. I have obviously tried to stand on my own because I have fallen down and found myself struggling with despair. Isolation, loneliness and frustration have chased me down and gotten the best of me. Thank You for the kick in the pants this morning; I needed it.

The Opposite of Love

Read: 1 Corinthians 13

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or clanging cymbal." 1 Corinthians 13:1

Examine:

Paul had seen some stuff. Ship wrecks, snake bites, beatings, jailbreaks, people raised from the dead, sick healed, deaf received hearing, blind restored to sight, and the risen Lord Jesus had all been witnessed by this man. In writing this letter, Paul could have called the church's attention to many great things, but he said the greatest was love.

Apply

In the book The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, a devil briefs his demon nephew, Wormwood, in a series of letters, on the subtleties and techniques of tempting people. In his writings, the devil says that the objective is not to make people wicked but to make them indifferent. This devil cautions Wormwood that he must keep his target comfortable at all costs. If he should start thinking about anything of importance, encourage him to think about his luncheon plans and not to worry so much because it only leads him to stress about something he can not affect. And then the devil gives this instruction to his nephew: "I, the devil, will always see to it that there are bad people. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with people who do not care."

The opposite of love is not hate. It is apathy or indifference. Apathy is becoming a person who does not care enough to care. The list of logical reasons to not care is long and exhaustive. The list of logical reasons to be a person of love is short and sweet... God commands it.

Pray:

I pray and call out to You for many things, but I seldom talk to You about growing my love. Maybe it is my nature as a man. Growing in love can at times be interpreted as asking You to make me soft and weak. Maybe it is my inability to process what I see. If I open my heart to feel for the things that I see going on around me, I quickly become overwhelmed and my overloaded emotions shut my feelings down. Maybe it is that I am just too busy. Life presses forward at a pace that literally overwhelms me. I work ten hour days just to keep up at work and have to throw in an extra six hours just to maintain my personal life. Maybe it is selfishness. My own hurts and neediness have my attention captured and causes me to look upon the world with a blind eye. Perhaps it is a combination of all these things.

I am selfish. I am scared. I am confused. I am lost. I do not know how to love like You call me to love. I ask that You ground me in Your love for me and help my love for You to become the center of all I desire. I pray that my heart reflect Yours. I pray that Your love for the world in which I live be reflected in my thoughts, actions, and expressions. There are many things I desire, but a greater love is the only thing that is truly of value.