Sovereignty, Seekers, and Seeds

Jim:

Genesis 42:18-28
At the end of verse 28 we read the question that Joseph’s brothers asked to one another when they discovered that their money had been returned to them along with the grain they had purchased: “What is this that God has done to us?” They recognized the role that God played in their lives, how the hand of God was at work day to day, even in simple acts or small details. The God of all creation is not so big as to refrain from involvement in that creation. The brothers were bothered by the prospect they faced, mainly because of the guilt they bore over what they had done to Joseph. Perhaps this is why they felt the hand of God to be heavy on them. But their question can also be one of comfort for God’s people, for no matter what happens, God is at work in the world and in the lives of God’s people.

1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11
6:11 reflects on the change that some of the members of the church in Corinth have undergone in their lives, from sinful and immoral lives to lives of faith: “And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” They were liberated from their past lifestyles, cut free from the weight of their sins, and set on a new path in discipleship. We, too, share that joyful reality in our baptisms. We, too, are a part of the household of God and therefore we, too, should seek lives of modesty and morality, reflective of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Mark 4:1-20
I can’t help but think that the members of the church at Corinth to whom Paul was addressing his concerns were like the seeds sown among the thorns: “these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.” Paul, of course, was trying to encourage the Corinthians to make better choices in their living. Jesus, too, was calling his disciples to understand the difficulties that they would face and the temptations to which they and others would be exposed so that they would know the importance in making those same good choices.