Today's Daily Lesson is from 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 2:
"To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together . . ."
Saints. If you were in the First Church of Corinth when they read Paul's letter then you probably either rolled your eyes, chuckled, groaned, or downright seethed with anger. "This place and these people," you might have that, "are anything but saintly."
And you would have been right. If you looked to the right and left of you in the pews at First Corinth it would have been hard to see saintly. As Paul describes in the letter you could look around and see cliques, factions, drunks, folks suing one another in court, the immoral, the inconsiderate, some known for visiting prostitutes, and one who was sleeping with his father's concubine. Saints? Did he say saints?
I am sorry, but Paul's letter to the Corinthians takes away the excuse of not going to or not liking the church because it is so full of hypocrites and sinners. It is full of hypocrites and sinners of the first degree. But that's why we are in church in the first place - because, as Jesus said, "It's the sick who need a doctor and not the healthy."
So, yes, Paul did say saints. Paul named a bunch of sick sinners and then reminded them that by God's grace they are called to be saints.
The local church is not always nice and pretty and the folks there aren't always what they should be. But it's still the best place I know of to go and learn to love, serve, forgive, and grow in holiness. In other words, it's the best place I know of to become like Jesus. And that's what saintliness really is - learning to live a life like Jesus lived with and for others.
It has often been said that the church is much like Noah's ark during the flood - we could not stand the smell inside were it not for the storm outside. I'd be lying if I said we have gotten used to the smell; but we know it's a part of the journey, and a small price we pay for being saved together.
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