Monday, December 14, 2015

Reading through the Bible-Justice through God

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1 Corinthians 6:7, "Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. 1 Corinthians 6:7? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?"
The Corinthians were just like modern Americans: addicted to their own "rights." But in clinging to their rights so fiercely, they had already shown utter failure. Just by going to court against your brother, you already lose.
It would be better to accept wrong. It would be better to let yourselves be cheated than to defend your "rights" at the expense of God's glory and the higher good of His kingdom.
Paul called this man to do something hard: to give up what he deserved for the higher good of God and His kingdom. But the man who was wronged should not think Paul was asking him to take a loss. No one who accepts wrong for the sake of God's glory will be a loser.
Ideally, the church should have settled the dispute. But if the church failed to do so, Paul asked the man to trust in God, not in secular judges and lawsuits and courts.
Paul didn't say, "Why not suffer wrong instead of confronting the problem?" Instead, he said, "Why not suffer wrong instead of bringing your dispute before unbelievers?"
Dear God, I pray that I may accept wrongs against me because of my knowledge of your justice.

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