SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 6
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. [1 Corinthians 6:11] When a person surrenders to God and becomes a Jesus-follower, something changes. Something changes in us, and as a result something changes in how we live. Paul was there when the first Corinthians surrendered to Jesus [Acts 18:1-11], and he saw the radical change – from what they were to what they became. This is why he is shocked to discover that they have returned to their old ways, contrary to the their new identity in Christ.

Jesus makes it plain that the person who submits to God and to Him in loving surrender becomes united with them in a unique wonderful way. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [John 14:23] We love God and Jesus, we long to obey them. They move into our hearts by the Spirit, making us temples of the living God.

As a result, we have divine resources to handle challenges and temptations. We have what we need to discern and make judgments among ourselves. With the help of the Spirit, and the community of Jesus-followers, we can deal with the problems and struggles that arise in life – we really don’t need to go to worldly courts or agencies for their help.

But the problem for the Corinthians, and for us as well, is that they were grieving and quenching the help of the Spirit by their reckless, immoral lifestyles. By tolerating sexual improprieties, they were undermining their communion with God. As a result, when tensions arose within the community, they weren’t looking to the Lord for help. Are we doing the same? Do we realize the amazing wonder of God living in us, are we looking to God’s help to handle life’s challenges and temptations? Or are we compromising our status and strength with our reckless, immoral living? Are we missing out on the abundance of life in, with and for God by our sinful attitudes and practices (which are really signs of NOT loving and obeying Jesus and His teaching [John 14:23].

We need to come back to what happened when we first became Jesus-followers. We need to recognize the radical change that took place, and start living according to that new reality. With His help, our lives can be more abundant than we have experienced, if we daily surrender to Him.

PRAYER:
Lord, remind me of the importance of Your living in me!