the greatest, the most righteous
1 Corinthians 3
I just want to share this passage, that i found while i was having my daily reflection, using the book Lifestyle evangelism.
it's a great book actually, i think everyone should read it. anyway, yeah what i want to share today is the thing about denominations and Christian divisions..
It used to be a great topic among the youths in my church. About who will go to heaven and actually be accepted in heaven, about who's the most righteous amongst us and all that stuff. A lot of fights or shall we say debates and arguments had been going on for many many centuries just arguing about this. But is it such an important topic to argue about? is it so important that we should give most of our energy and time arguing about?
Let's look at what Paul has to say...
I guess the right question and answer to all those arguments is, do we worship and believe in God because He's rational? because He's logical? because we know everything about Him? because our intelligence says that He's the right way to go? or is it because of what He has done for us?
I had a conversation with my "atheist" friend one time, and he said, that people believed in God because they're selfish and that they need something to look up to when they're weak, something to satisfy their dissatisfaction with their own "screwed up" life. And he said, that he don't need God because he thinks that he's enough, he's happy with himself now, he's satisfied.
All i know is that when we think that we know God the most, is when we know that we don't truly know Him. If God is just some "thing" that we made up in our mind, to help us feel like we are not alone, then i guess we are better off knowing that there's no god at all. Because following God is not an easy thing. Having faith in the true and living God when things are not going well is not that easy. To do things that He commands is really2 hard! it takes too many tears and pride from those who actually does it.
Knowing God and worshipping Him, may cost a lot of grief and pains in our part. But remember this, what we do in this earth, without God, is USELESS. We may one day know how to clone humans, or know how trees are actually made, etc. BUT what's the use of knowledge? what's the use of knowledge for those who have alzhimer disease? what's the use of knowledge for those who are in their deathbed? what's the use of knowledge for those in their last second before a car hit them? what's the use of knowledge for those who has no one that listen to them?
knowledge is nothing if God is not in it. everything in this world is meaningless if God is not in it. Knowledge is only a tool that God uses, to reassure us of our faith and His promises when we are down, it is not something that reassure us that He's real.
God is real, He is always there, His promises stays the same for eternity.
as for the question of which denominations is the most righteous... i don't believe that one is better than the other.. one may help us know God faster and may help us grow.. but God is greater than denomination, He can use whatever it is He wants to use to bring us closer to Him.
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?5What, 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. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"[a]; 20and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."[b] 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
I just want to share this passage, that i found while i was having my daily reflection, using the book Lifestyle evangelism.
it's a great book actually, i think everyone should read it. anyway, yeah what i want to share today is the thing about denominations and Christian divisions..
It used to be a great topic among the youths in my church. About who will go to heaven and actually be accepted in heaven, about who's the most righteous amongst us and all that stuff. A lot of fights or shall we say debates and arguments had been going on for many many centuries just arguing about this. But is it such an important topic to argue about? is it so important that we should give most of our energy and time arguing about?
Let's look at what Paul has to say...
18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"[a]; 20and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."[b] 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.This passage clearly says, "All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." and the meaning of it is obvious. That God does not looks at our intelligence and how much we outsmart those who are boastful about their knowledge, God does not looks at those who always wins the arguments about who's right and wrong, because "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile"
I guess the right question and answer to all those arguments is, do we worship and believe in God because He's rational? because He's logical? because we know everything about Him? because our intelligence says that He's the right way to go? or is it because of what He has done for us?
I had a conversation with my "atheist" friend one time, and he said, that people believed in God because they're selfish and that they need something to look up to when they're weak, something to satisfy their dissatisfaction with their own "screwed up" life. And he said, that he don't need God because he thinks that he's enough, he's happy with himself now, he's satisfied.
All i know is that when we think that we know God the most, is when we know that we don't truly know Him. If God is just some "thing" that we made up in our mind, to help us feel like we are not alone, then i guess we are better off knowing that there's no god at all. Because following God is not an easy thing. Having faith in the true and living God when things are not going well is not that easy. To do things that He commands is really2 hard! it takes too many tears and pride from those who actually does it.
Knowing God and worshipping Him, may cost a lot of grief and pains in our part. But remember this, what we do in this earth, without God, is USELESS. We may one day know how to clone humans, or know how trees are actually made, etc. BUT what's the use of knowledge? what's the use of knowledge for those who have alzhimer disease? what's the use of knowledge for those who are in their deathbed? what's the use of knowledge for those in their last second before a car hit them? what's the use of knowledge for those who has no one that listen to them?
knowledge is nothing if God is not in it. everything in this world is meaningless if God is not in it. Knowledge is only a tool that God uses, to reassure us of our faith and His promises when we are down, it is not something that reassure us that He's real.
God is real, He is always there, His promises stays the same for eternity.
as for the question of which denominations is the most righteous... i don't believe that one is better than the other.. one may help us know God faster and may help us grow.. but God is greater than denomination, He can use whatever it is He wants to use to bring us closer to Him.
5What, 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. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
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