Have you been studying the passages I’ve given you for “homework?” If not, you should. Understanding God’s word requires you learning it contextually. If you want to know God in a better, more intimate way, you must study His word.
I have another passage that you should go deeper with. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy. 1 Corinthians 7:17-20 17 Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:17-24
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Here’s another opportunity to study God’s Word to gain an understanding of what is meant by this passage. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy.
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 First Corinthians chapter six is challenging. I encourage you to study it well. I have heard many discussions about this topic. When you enter conversations about sexual immorality, you better know what you’re saying. It is easy to get it wrong and lead people astray. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy.
1 Corinthians 6:12 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 6 First Corinthians 5 is quite a bit to take in. As you read this chapter, be careful. You may need to read a few commentaries to gain clarification for some of the word usage. Paul talks about “judging,” but we know Jesus taught us to not “judge.” You may need to gain an understanding of the two different meanings of “judge” in those two passages of the Bible.
Bottom line, we must be careful of who we allow to be in our midst. A person who refuses to live as Christ taught us and God called us is a threat to our congregation. What is the best way to deal with that person? Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 5 In this passage, please note the sarcasm Paul uses to point the people of Corinth towards a life of humility in Christ. To this point they were focused on following a particular apostle, Paul, Apollos, or Peter. However, Paul wanted them to understand that following them was wrong. Christ alone should be followed.
Do you know someone who is getting this wrong? Take them to lunch or for coffee and have a Matthew 18:15 conversation with them. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy. 1 Corinthians 4:8-13 8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 4 In Christ’s diet, on what are you feeding, milk or solid food? Think about your answer to these questions:
1. How often do you allow people to sow into your life through constructive criticism? 2. How receptive are you to Biblical teaching that differs from what you’ve believed, but are Biblically accurate and contextual? 3. Do you use God’s Word to guide you or do you do what everyone else is doing because if everyone is doing it, it’s probably right? These are not all inclusive questions to let you know what Christ diet you’re on, but they will help you as you discover if you’re still drinking milk as an infant in Christ or if you’re eating solid food as one is an adult in Christ. Be true to yourself. It matters. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 3 The next time you find yourself talking to someone who flat out does not believe in God, remember the words from this passage. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 2 In Romans, we gained much practical knowledge of how to walk well with Christ. It appears 1 Corinthians is going to be the same. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Here’s a good question you should take time to ponder then answer: If your Pastor or someone you hold in high, spiritual esteem fell from grace, would that shake/shatter your faith?
If it would, then you, like the Corinthians, have placed your faith in the wrong place. Anyone can fall from grace. It takes a split second of a lapse in judgment. Does that mean God’s not real. Understand this, if that person “fell from grace,” while you’re turning your back on God, that person will likely fall on their face in repentance before a loving, merciful God. As God forgives and restores them, you will find yourself outside of the covering of God and the enemy, who is prowling around like a roaring lion, will pounce. Save yourself the hassle, put your trust in God and don’t waver because someone else faltered. The next time it could be you. Here’s today’s Bible verse. Enjoy. 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-17 |
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AuthorDr. Gregg Mays shares his daily devotion. Archives
February 2025
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