Monday, February 18, 2008

Random Thoughts

Jim:

Genesis 41:46-57
Verse 51 tells about the name that Joseph gave to his first son. “Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.’” Manasseh is from a word meaning “making to forget.” But obviously Joseph hasn’t literally forgotten his hardships in Egypt, nor the land and people from which he came. He isn’t talking about amnesia. (What a funny name for a child that would be!) But the new thing that God has done in Joseph’s life is so wonderful as to remove the pain of the past and to replace it with a hope-filled future. As long as Joseph was trapped in his anger or sadness over things that had gone before he would have been incapable of living into the future that God was holding out to him. We hold on to our anger and our hurt over past events at the risk of losing the opportunity to embrace what God is doing in our present and our future.

1 Corinthians 4:8-21
In verse 21 Paul writes, “What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness.” This sounds a lot like Teddy Roosevelt’s assertion that American foreign policy should be to “walk softly and carry a big stick.” Paul is asking what sort of relationship the Corinthians would like to have with him, and whether they will continue in their arrogance or will defer to his authority and to the work of the Spirit. As a pastor I don’t think Paul’s question would be appropriate for me to ask a congregation. But I understand the responsibility that church leaders have to encourage Christians to seek unity and to serve one another, not in arrogance but in the Spirit of Christ. Sometimes this requires sternness, and sometimes it does not.

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