Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Devotion 1.19.23

 "I appeal to you,, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement." 1 Corinthians 1:10

Who is the GOAT (greatest of all time)? I believe our own Pastor Dan once referred to this in a sermon, so it's not a new thought. To the point of the first question, the GOAT in what? Let's stick with football. Tom Brady occupies the top spot, without argument from me, based on records held and championships won with him at the helm as QB, in an era when the QB is the dominant player. I'm not talking likability, yet I've never really found anything in him to dislike personally. Yes, given my history of watching football, I can give a list of greats, but in terms of being likely the key position to produce a champion in a given sport, Tom Brady occupies that spot. 

Now you might follow another vein of thinking, and that's okay. I don't possess a tremendous amount of facts and stats in an era where that's all that matters (the analytics crowd that takes all the fun out of a conversation who ignore the truth that facts and stats aren't necessarily truth). I do have a historical perspective that begins in the 1960s. I saw greats then and through today. Yet each of us has a favorite who may not be (probably isn't) Tom Brady.

That gets revealed on game day. Whose jersey were you willing to invest in? Mahomes is dominant in this region. I see any number of Cowboy jerseys as well. You get the idea.

In Corinth, Paul is dealing with a different form of division that is far more dangerous, one in the church. Church divisions, to the Christian faith, can be the most dangerous simply because it can divert the faithful in terms of what is truth? Paul makes that clear in this passage. The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the the first nine verses of this chapter, Paul uses Christ's full name, "Lord Jesus Christ," five times, now six in v 10. We don't follow people in the church, we follow our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, the Word of God.

Our prayer is that our leaders focus our attention on God's Word and our Lord Jesus Christ. When important matters come before us, we ask that we turn to God's Word and seek the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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