1 Corinthians Blog 2

My favorite chapters in 1 Corinthians are chapters 12-14 and they have been my favorite for just over a year. Every time I read through 1 Corinthians I ponder these chapters in great depth to try to squeeze more out of them. Every time I read them I am able to squeeze more out of them!
Chapter 12 talks about the gifts of the spirit and the Body and how, when working unified, are wonderful things. The gifts of the Spirit listed here are like different parts of the body. A church (defined as a group of believers that meet together on a regular basis) that has all of these gifts within the members is a beautiful thing. The members who have gifts (I strongly believe that all members have a gift) and use them within the church contribute greatly to the Body as a whole. This makes the body complete. Each member, therefore, has something to contribute to the Body.

Later in Chapter 12, Paul talks about the body which is of God’s design and is beautiful. We have two hands, two feet, ten fingers (I am including the thumbs as fingers…), two legs, two eyes, two ears, one mouth, etc. When your body is working correctly, that is, well, good. When something is going wrong, that is not good. If a body is going wrong we go to the doctor. Sometimes there is an easy thing that needs to be changed, and sometimes it is a harder thing to do in order to cure whatever is wrong. Plus, when something is wrong with your body, sometimes you can feel it.
I think it is interesting how the church is compared to a body, the Body of Christ. Therefore, when something is off balance in the Church, there may be some sort of pain within the members. However, if you have been hurt by a body of believers, remember that when something is wrong with the Body, then Christ feels it, you are not the only one who feels pain from whatever happened. Chris understands.
Chapter 13 is the most important thing, I believe, for a Christian to remember. It is ALL about LOVE! How many people are going to come to Christ out of fear of going to hell? Not many. How many people are going to come to Christ when they are told that they are in sin and are going to hell? Not many. How many people will come to Christ when they see a Christian condemning them? None. How many people will come to Christ when they see a Christian serving them, loving them unconditionally no matter what they have done…not matter what they feel ashamed of? More than the number of people in the previous scenarios. I like chapter 13 because along with its message being love, it has a message of being love without self…selfless love.

Chapter 14:1 “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts and especially that you may prophesy.” I love that verse! Pursue love. Strive to love others. Love God. Secondly, strive for the spiritual gifts. The church can function well if the members are striving and using the spiritual gifts. I have heard a sermon that talked about prophecy and in it, the speaker said that anyone can prophecy but not everyone is a prophet. He defined “prophecy” as giving the words of God to a person/the people that the words are directed at. Therefore, the speaker said that anyone can encourage another believer (or the congregation as a whole). He then broke us up into groups and we prayed over each other. We prayed for a word of knowledge for the person that we were praying over. One at a time we were encouraged by the Lord through each other.
From the time that that speaker talked to us until January (October 2007-January 2008) I pondered that. I believe it is very important to consider what you have heard before accepting it, even if it is a Christian speaking to you. January 2008 came and I embraced what I had heard. However, I did not realize at first what I had done until a few weeks later.
It was a Sunday morning and the congregation was worshiping in song and I was reading the lyrics to the song that I did not know. I was having trouble focusing. Suddenly, I wanted to pray for someone and ask God for a word for them. I determined that encouraging someone would be a good way of worshiping God. A few songs later, the pastor spoke for about 45 minutes. Then he closed the service with the words “We are not going to end in songs like we usually do. Instead, go and encourage somebody.” Talk about amazing!