In preparation for our trip to Germany, the students copied the lessons from the daily lectionary and made sure that each of us had a copy. These texts served as the foundation for our student-led devotions. The lectionary contains three readings, one from the Old Testament, one from an Epistle, and a Gospel reading. It may have simply been the power of suggestion, but it intrigued me that so many of those who offered a reflection chose a verse or idea out of the Epistle.
These selections were from I Corinthians. Several of them spoke of spiritual gifts.
One this, our first full day back, I found myself drawn to these Epistle readings. In the 14th chapter, Paul advises the young church to make sure that every action, every expression of the Spirit is offered up in such a way as to further the hopes of Christ. “Let all things be done for edification,” he writes.
Too often we observe “Christians” showing off what they have received. Too often, bad stereotypes develop of persons of faith acting more like persons of ambition. That which we have received has been given to us freely; we ought to freely share with others.
How easy is it for someone to observe us and from what they see to know to what we have committed our lives? Is it apparent that we serve a God whose prime instruction is to love, in a way which reflects how we have first been loved?
It is wonderful to read the Word and to reflect on what it is saying to us. But let us also live in a way which reflects God’s desire that all things be done “decently and in order.”
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