Dysfunction Gone Wild

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206%3A1-11&version=NIV;NLT

 

Television can make dysfunction funny. Take the successful TV series The Office which aired from 2005-2013. The setting was a paper distribution company called Dunder Mifflin. With a variety of quirky characters that you might find in any office anywhere, dysfunction seemed to be the guiding principle of the show.

 

Most likely the reason that a dysfunctional office is funny is because we can relate to it and identify with the quirky characters. In reality though, dysfunction is the result of our sinful nature and not to be taken lightly.

 

Consider King David. Although a man after God’s own heart, he had no clue when it came to the dysfunction of his family. Amnon, one of David’s sons, raped his step-sister, Tamar. When David didn’t do anything about it, her biological brother, Absalom, killed Amnon. In this case, it sounds like dysfunction gone wild.

 

The church at Corinth seems to have been the definition of a dysfunctional church.

They struggled with everything from divisions over leadership to immorality and incest to favoritism based on status. It’s hard to imagine that they had any redeeming qualities. Yet, Paul had enough hope in them that he didn’t give up.

 

In the verses today, Paul wrote about lawsuits amongst believers in the church. Here is yet another example of the Corinthian believers not being able to work and play well together; an example of their dysfunction. Paul makes these observations.

 

⁵ I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? ⁶ But instead, one believer sues another—right in front of unbelievers! ⁷ Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.              NLT

 

You may not have ever taken another believer to court, but conflict starts small and builds to a crescendo. It begins with a something little between an employer and employee, or two business owners, or neighbors or between husband and wife.

 

Conflict is a part of the human predicament. It happens every day of our lives. The question is how will you deal with it? Paul suggests working things out, finding a mediator or just accepting the injustice.

 

 

 

Whatever you do, don’t let it become, dysfunction go wild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Burger for a Beggar

Isaiah 54:4-8

 (Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2054%3A4-8&version=NIV;NCV

 

 

Recently I stopped at a McDonalds. There was a man opening the door for customers going in or out. I knew he was going to ask me for money, and when he did, instead I bought him a burger. Although it was a compassionate act, I think I felt more obligated than compassionate.

 

Isaiah was writing to the people of Judah who were in exile. As judgement for their sin, they had been torn from their homes, their families, their jobs and taken to a strange land. Yet, God had compassion on them and He was promising them that they would return and multiply in their homeland.

 

² Make your tent bigger… ³ because you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will take over other nations, and they will again live in cities that once were destroyed.     NCV

 

Lepers were an invisible people during the time of Jesus’ ministry. Because of their

disease they were removed from their homes, their families, their jobs and forced to live outside the city walls. If they approached anyone they had to shout out, “Unclean, unclean”. But Jesus had compassion for a leper, and he healed him.

 

God is indeed compassionate. He spoke these words to the exiles through Isaiah:

 

⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. ⁸ In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.          NIV

 

God took compassion on you and me when He sent His Son to die for our sins and when He opened our hearts to His redeeming love. To whom has He called you to show compassion? To the homeless? To orphans? To the elderly? To prisoners? Or maybe it’s someone closer to home like your spouse or your boss.

 

Whoever it is, we are called to become more like the Lord, and the Lord is compassionate. Let us show acts of compassion even when it means going out of our comfort zone. Even when it means giving a burger for a beggar. After all, aren’t we all beggars?

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

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