Day 219

Ezra 4:24–6:22; 1 Corinthians 3:5-23; Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 20:26-27

IN OUR READING from Ezra today, we watched the enemies of Israel continue to disrupt and sabotage the Israelites’ work to rebuild God’s Temple in Jerusalem. Despite the threats, the people continued to build, knowing that they were obeying God.

At times, we will certainly experience similar disruptions while doing God’s work. Others may try to delay or interfere with our efforts. The process may not be easy, but we must be steadfast when we know we are obeying God.

In today’s reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul talked about an issue as pervasive now as it was then —people were segregating themselves into different camps based on whose teachings they believed first (or most) about Jesus. In Paul’s view, believers were basing their spiritual identity on whose team they were on rather than growing in intimacy with Jesus Himself:

When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

We still behave this way today —especially in matters of faith. The result is that we currently have about forty thousand Christian denominations in the world. The problem isn’t that we are a vast and diverse body. The problem arises when we think our team is the only team that has the truth and thereby attempt to gain our spiritual identity through what our team believes instead of through ever-evolving intimacy with Jesus Himself. For Paul, the foundation of faith was Christ alone (1 Corinthians 3:11), and although many may build on this foundation, we are all on the same team. He put it this way:

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? . . . So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you —whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Where is our spiritual identity coming from? Are we following a person or a movement, expecting to grow in intimacy with Jesus, or are we actually in a relationship with Him? Invite the Holy Spirit into this question today. It may be just the disruption you need to pull you dramatically forward in your relationship with God.

MEDITATION:

The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.