"Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud-even your own brothers!" 1 Corinthians 6:7b-8
It's happened in church after church. God's people gather together, some of them are designated to do certain functions of ministry, and then you start to encounter the snarling dog. Rather than seeing their work as an opportunity to serve God and others, they become territorial. They want things done their way. If you threaten their little kingdom, they become territorial, kind of like a dog protecting its backyard. If you question the way they do things, they become defensive, as though they have to justify why the way they do it is the best, right, and only holy way.
Okay, I'm overspeaking things there a bit. But you've probably been there before, especially if you've served in some area of ministry in a congregation. And while it is great for God's people to take their tasks seriously, it's also sad when it becomes a badge of honor, or something to that effect. If you've ever had to think about how someone would react before a needed change could be made, you've probably encountered this phenomenon before.
The problem is, this is completely contrary to how God desires for His people to interact with one another. It promotes a spirit of pride rather than a spirit of humility. It locks us into certain ways of thinking, and prevents us from learning things that could truly be helpful and beneficial. It deprives us of the wisdom and counsel that others could introduce into the picture that maybe, just maybe, could actually help things work better or smoother.
The above quotation, in its context, is St. Paul chastising the Corinthian Christians for their lack of humility, in that they placed being right above the well-being of the Church and Christian unity. They were territorial and defensive, and Paul took them to task for it. God's people are changed to serve one another, to love one another, not to promote their own causes and desires above others.
That's why Paul says that it's better to be wronged than to pursue this kind of course. That shows true humility, truly putting the needs of the brother or sister in Christ above your own. And if that's the thing that Christians became known for doing, rather than being territorial and defensive, it just might make a different impression on our brothers and sisters, as well as our witness to the rest of the world. And that is something that Jesus would have us remember in our interactions with each other.
It's happened in church after church. God's people gather together, some of them are designated to do certain functions of ministry, and then you start to encounter the snarling dog. Rather than seeing their work as an opportunity to serve God and others, they become territorial. They want things done their way. If you threaten their little kingdom, they become territorial, kind of like a dog protecting its backyard. If you question the way they do things, they become defensive, as though they have to justify why the way they do it is the best, right, and only holy way.
Okay, I'm overspeaking things there a bit. But you've probably been there before, especially if you've served in some area of ministry in a congregation. And while it is great for God's people to take their tasks seriously, it's also sad when it becomes a badge of honor, or something to that effect. If you've ever had to think about how someone would react before a needed change could be made, you've probably encountered this phenomenon before.
The problem is, this is completely contrary to how God desires for His people to interact with one another. It promotes a spirit of pride rather than a spirit of humility. It locks us into certain ways of thinking, and prevents us from learning things that could truly be helpful and beneficial. It deprives us of the wisdom and counsel that others could introduce into the picture that maybe, just maybe, could actually help things work better or smoother.
The above quotation, in its context, is St. Paul chastising the Corinthian Christians for their lack of humility, in that they placed being right above the well-being of the Church and Christian unity. They were territorial and defensive, and Paul took them to task for it. God's people are changed to serve one another, to love one another, not to promote their own causes and desires above others.
That's why Paul says that it's better to be wronged than to pursue this kind of course. That shows true humility, truly putting the needs of the brother or sister in Christ above your own. And if that's the thing that Christians became known for doing, rather than being territorial and defensive, it just might make a different impression on our brothers and sisters, as well as our witness to the rest of the world. And that is something that Jesus would have us remember in our interactions with each other.
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