TOPIC: Contending For Holiness DAILY MANNA Monday, January 19, 2015 TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-4 Key Verse: “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3). When the head of government ofa country who was visiting another nation was told of a crisis back home, he cut short his trip and returned to address the domestic challenge. It would have been cruel and heartless of him to have continued the journey while his country was engulfed with unrest. A good and caring leader or shepherd in the household of God would behave the same way. Our text today identifies Paul the apostle as a concerned guardian. About to close his three-year ministry in Ephesus during his third missionary journey, he was told about the divisive tendencies creeping into the Church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). It was a disheartening news for Paul who had spent one and a half years with the Corinthian Church teaching the brethren the pure and undiluted word of God (Acts 18:11). Now, he heard that these Corinthian Christians were poised to adapt to the low standards around them. Some of them had already compromised by breaking into factions engaging in incest, resorting to lawsuits to settle disputes between them, abusing spiritual gifts and manifesting unholy conduct at home, in the Church and in the public. Although Paul could not stop his work in Ephesus to visit Corinth, he quickly dispatched a grave letter to the brethren to draw them back to the uncorrupted teaching of Christ. He warns that what they have been accused of are acts of carnality that should not be seen among genuine Christians. As a true shepherd, Paul told them the truth that liberates. He delivered to them “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Fighting the good fight of faith, defending Christ’s doctrine of outward and inward holiness as qualification for entry into heaven is the responsibility of all believers. Wherever we are, God enjoins us to “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). It is our primary and sacred duty. BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ACTS 11 - 12 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: A firm stand for holiness is a courageous stand for Christ. Higher Everyday for Youths - Link: highereveryday.dclmhq.org/
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 03:06:22 +0000