The meanness of some people may leave a bad taste in your mouth for a very long time if you let it. Many a poor soul carries to their grave the evil wrought against them by neighbour and stranger alike. Scripture assures us that Judgement Day will be severe for those who have injured the lives of the innocent.
It is in Christ that we rest in God’s justice. As a believer you find yourself “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Now you can look to the future and marshal of all of God’s gifts and promises for the spiritual journey before you. A journey that demands godly wisdom and insight into everything along the way. But while examining everything else, you must always examine yourself.
Our Corinthian brothers and sisters made the mistake of making the Lord’s Supper a social event for the well-off and an embarrassment for the workers. While the rich could sit around all day, the labourers could only attend communion before or after work. One party got drunk and over fed, and the other got nothing (1 Corinthians 11:23-34).
Paul sharply called the brethren to their senses when he wrote: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).
Our religion rests on the historical death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And it is in our weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper that we remember the Body and Blood of our Lord on the cross. Disrespect that, and we are worse than unbelievers!
However, Paul always looked to better things for the church and offered solutions that work. His admonishment was full of godly wisdom and insight:
“But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup…But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.” (1 Corinthians 11:28, 31).
John Staiger
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