1 Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and bloodof the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
There is a very important time in our lives when we must face reality. ‘Reality’ may be an abstract word for many in the world these days, especially as avowed by those whose philosophical stripe tends to be existential. Reality can best be expressed by those who think this way as: “What is reality for you?” It seems your reality may be different from someone else’s reality.
Life in the world does teach us this to some degree. After all, look at the disagreements we have over politics. People see what they see about history, and then adapt that into their political opinions based on the historical grid which reflects their perspective. “Too much freedom,” some say, “results in selfishness which oppresses the poor.” “Not enough freedom,” others say, “results in the ruin of all to help the few.” Which is reality to you?
There must be an arbiter of reality when it comes to evaluating your life, lest you fall into this sort of results-oriented escapism which always seems to find you forgiving all of your sin free of charge while at the same time condemning the sin of others. Comparison to others is the realm of the flesh, and is the driver of self-evaluation for all those who are in the world and have never received Christ.
Receiving Christ as your personal Savior changes everything. It is THE delineating moment in the history of YOUR world. YOUR delineating moment. The moment all your history changed. This is why you can only come to Christ through confession. It means we accept His judgment of our sin and not our own. We step away from any sort of sliding-scale-self-acceptance of our sin and agree with Christ - with HIS judgment of ALL of what we have done. How precious then is the fact He willingly pays the price for it. This is true communion with Christ and His church, and there is no way to arrive at this by half-measure.
No comments:
Post a Comment