Today’s Text: I Corinthians 1:9
In this passage of thanksgiving three things stand out.
(i) There is the promise which came true. When Paul preached Christianity to the Corinthians he told them that Christ could do certain things for them, and now he proudly claims that all that he pledged that Christ could do has come true.
(ii) There is the gift which has been given. Paul here uses a favorite word of his. It is charisma which means a gift freely given to a man, a gift which he did not deserve and which he could never by himself have earned. This gift of God, as Paul saw it, comes in two ways.
(a) Salvation is the charisma of God. To enter into a right relationship with God is something which a man could never achieve himself. It is an unearned gift, coming from the sheer generosity of the love of God. (compare Rom 6:23).
(b) It gives a man whatever special gifts he may possess and whatever special equipment he may have for life. (1Cor 12:4-10; 1Tim 4:14; 1Pet 4:10). If a man has the gift of speech or the gift of healing, if he has the gift of music or of any art, if he has a craftsman’s gifts upon his hands, all these are gifts from God. If we fully realized that, it would bring a new atmosphere and character into life. Such skills as we possess are not our own achievement, they are gifts from God, and, therefore, they are held in trust. They are not to be used as we want to use them but as God wants us to use them; not for our profit or prestige but for the glory of God and the good of men.
(iii) There is the ultimate end. In the Old Testament the phrase, The Day of the Lord, keeps recurring. It was the day when the Jews expected God to break directly into history, the day when the old world would be wiped out and the new world born, the day when all men would be judged. The Christians took over this idea, only they took The Day of the Lord in the sense of The Day of the Lord Jesus, and regarded it as the day on which Jesus would come back in all his power and glory.
Our case is settled. Jesus has ruled us free. What we do with that freedom is the source of our thanksgiving. Make God proud.
Michael