file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940109.TXT
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OUR DAILY BREAD Sunday, January 9, 1994
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READ: 1 Corinthians 11:17-32
LOOK AT YOURSELF!
If we would judge ourselves,
we would not be judged.
--1 Corinthians 11:31
State employment officials in Tucson, Arizona, posted an
interesting sign over a full-length mirror. Directed to all job
hunters, it read, "Would you hire this person?" In another
office a mirror and sign posed this question: "Are you ready for
a job?"
Self-evaluation was what the apostle Paul called for in 1
Corinthians 11. Believers in Christ need to judge themselves, he
said, to avoid being judged by the Lord as unfit for His service.
In the Corinthian church, the "appearance problem" was especially
serious. Those Christians "looked" awful. They were actually
getting drunk and quarreling among themselves while going through
the motions of celebrating the Lord's Supper. So Paul said, in
effect, "Look at yourselves. What a mess! If you don't get your
lives straightened out, the Lord will have to do it for you."
Then the apostle added the sobering fact that God had already
begun to cleanse the church by sending some of them to an early
grave. This is a hard truth, but one the church still needs to
hear today.
This warning, however, also carries a message of hope. If we
judge ourselves and repent of our sins, we will not be judged by
God.
Author: Martin R. De Haan II
O Lord, return to me Your power
That once by grace I knew;
Forgive the sin that grieved Your heart,
And help me to be true.
--Anon.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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Self-examination is one test from which no Christian is excused.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Genesis 27-29
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