Scriptural Readings: I Corinthians 6:1-2, Romans 14:17-18, Galatians 5:22-26
King James Version
I Corinthians 6:1-2
v.1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
v.2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
New Living Translation
v.1 When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers!
v.2 Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves?
Life itself is a big question. To make a strong foundation and continue, questions must be answered to succeed. However, we have to consider a lot of things, and one of them is our differences. The secular world is entirely different from the spiritual realm which sometimes opposes each other, and this is where the trouble starts. We settle our differences without knowing which is secular and spiritual. We can compromise our differences, however, sometimes the most comfortable for us to meet halfway are making more complicated solutions, taking us more into arguments resulting in emotional imbalances.
Hatred exists and is a part of us, and sometimes this is the cause of our differences. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we must not have hatred. The bible is clear about this. We have to live a holy life. How are we going to do this?
King James Version
Romans 14:17-18
v.17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
v.18 For he that in these things serveth Christ [is] acceptable to God, and approved of men.
New Living Translation
v.17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
v.18 If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.
The kingdom of God is a spiritual realm. In the spiritual world, eating and drinking are not a necessity. All things coming from His domain are good and can never be wrong. Compared to the secular world, where we always have a point of argument. We have to separate spiritual from secular.
Verse 17 shows us the two worlds. The secular world represents eating and drinking, while the spiritual world tells us what the Holy Spirit produces in us. We must be able to know the spiritual essence. As soon as we get to know what the Lord is saying, what happens next is we grow and mature spiritually. Furthermore, the secular world and its issues are unveiled and exposed when the spiritual essence comes to our spiritual senses, telling us what attitude we must be having. Verse 18 now tells us we are the servant of Jesus Christ with the attitude God Himself bestowed on us, pleasing both for Him and men living in the secular world.
King James Version
Galatians 5:22-26
v.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
v.23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
v.24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
v.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
v.26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
New Living Translation
Galatians 5:22-26
v.22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
v.23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
v.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
v.25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
v.26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Our lives are filled with questions in the secular world-embracing laws, worldly attitudes that lead us to an unending life of miseries and uncertainties, and above all, lack of faith in God. We are God’s children, a co-heir with Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He nailed all those passions, desires of our sinful nature(the old man in us)to His cross, so that our lives must conform and fit in the spiritual realm where God’s kingdom is. We are now living in the spirit, and we must walk in the spirit. In the secular world where we are helpless, crippled, and defeated, in the spiritual world, we are powerful. The moment we walk in the spirit, God will empower us. Our lives will be transformed fitted to that what God had planned. The fruit(take note, not fruits)of the Holy Spirit will be produced in us, as promised, living a victorious life in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Alleluia!
Rights…Right…
Scriptural Readings: I Corinthians 1:25, 30; Romans 8:15; Mark 10:27
As the new year ushers in, we also face new challenges. Some people are still having the same struggles and continually looking for new ways to get rid of their difficulties. A lot of us are still having a list of New Year’s resolutions in which some can be accomplished easily, but unfortunately for others, more things are added. Decisions will also rush in and must be taken seriously.
We always have the feeling that we might be doing the wrong things. We have second thoughts, but doing it anyway disregarding the possible consequences. The reasoning we have is the importance of practicing and emphasizing our rights. However, we have to put into our minds that rights are attached to decision making. We do not stop and just depend on our rights. We must be sure if it will work for us or not. It is a decision, a volition God placed in us.
King James Version
I Corinthians 1:25
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
New Living Translation
I Corinthians 1:25
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
Rights are born because we make laws. In a sophisticated and complicated way of living, we look forward to making laws and rules to have a more simple and easy way of living. We try to perfect ourselves by making laws. We plan and make our foundations on laws and rights. We make sure of having more laws to fit more of our rights, forgetting the most important thing, morality. As the result, we find living more difficult and impossible. We go back to square one because man-made laws are imperfect.
God made the ten commandments for reflection. No one can accomplish fully the ten commandments. We have to reflect on it. God has given us a conscience where our morality exists. It is in our conscience that morality is contained, telling us that we are disobeying God. If our time is just occupied only by earning money, and sometimes we momentarily set aside our faith in God, who by the way, has given us the time to earn, then we are disobeying the first commandment. It seems money is far more important that we give more time to it, rather than studying the bible and having prayers.
King James Version
v.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
New Living Translation
v.30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
The only right that we must know and practice is the right to be God’s child. This is the only thing that we have to put in our minds that we are the children of God. When Jesus uttered the words ” It is finished “, this is where we draw the line and say we are God’s children, and we do not belong to what the bible says “you belong to your father the devil”.
The blood of Jesus Christ separated us from being sinners to forgiven sinners. Sending Jesus to be our propitiation is not a law imposed by our Heavenly Father. God the Son became a man and saved us from eternal damnation giving us the right to all the things that our Father will bless us with. What Jesus did on Calvary united us with our Father once again. He freed us from sin, and take note not the sins. It means that we do not have to struggle anymore. He made us pure and holy. We are now co-heir with Him. He made us right with God our Father.
King James Version
Romans 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
New Living Translation
Romans 8:15
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
Crying, Abba father
We Christians need to know the exact status of our relationship with our Father in Heaven. We have the right to call Him Abba Father. Jesus said that when we pray, we must always think about our Father in heaven. We pray and say “Our Father in Heaven…” This is our right, the right that did not come from an imperfect human law. A divine right that can never be wrong. Jesus reconciling us to the Father is the ultimate thing for us believers in Christ. We know by faith and trust that our Father is listening to us, and through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, everything is possible.
Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”