You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The chair sat there all alone, a picture of loneliness. I think we have all felt times when we were like that chair all alone. We feel left out, somehow like we don’t belong anywhere. We all want to belong. Paul wrote to the Corinthians who were having a belongingness problem. It had become so great that they were dividing themselves into groups based on who they followed. They needed to feel they belonged. They were wounded and alienated. I love these words by Roger J. Gench from the Feasting on the Word, Year A Commentary that explains Paul’s answer to the Corinthians and to us who need to belong:
How do you walk with wounds that are so deep and so alienating? The answer Paul gives is Christ and him crucified, who not only identifies with our loneliness, but who also carries our wounds, in order to show us the God who loves us. It is in Christ alone that we can learn we belong. By learning to live in Christ we grow into the discovery that we are loved. Now I look back on this picture of the chair and am grateful for the time God pointed it out to me on my early morning walk that day. I now see the tree that covers it an all the beauty that surrounds it, like God’s love surrounds me when I am lonely. Prayer Lord God Heal our wounds of loneliness as we grow in your love. Forgive the times our need to belong has divided us and hurt others. Help us to seek the lonely and bring them to your love. Amen
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan