I write this letter...

I send this letter to you in God’s church at Corinth, believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He’s their Master as well as ours! May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours. (I Corinthians 1:1-3 MSG)

I used to write many handwritten letters to send back home to my parents or send a little update on life events to those relatives farther away, but I could not tell you the last time I actually sent a 'snail mail' letter! As Paul begins this letter to the Corinthian church, he begins by telling us who the letter was written to or for - believers cleaned up by Jesus. In other words, he was writing to those who had already said yes to Jesus. This letter isn't for the unbeliever as much as it was intended to address some topics of concern among believers - those who were set apart for a God-filled life. Like us, they needed a little correction and Paul wanted to ensure they had both a good start in their faith, but that they also continued growing in it without falling back on old ways of living or new temptations that would come along the way.

There was church division - we can find that today. Some were given into sexual sins, and their choices were not God honoring. Others were trying to figure out if Jesus was really raised from the dead in a 'bodily form' or was it some other form of 'mysterious occurrence'. There were issues of whether you could eat meat that had been offered to idols, if someone should take a spouse, or if celibacy was to be desired. Lots of concerns were being addressed by Paul, who took his role as the founder of this early church very seriously. He didn't want to see them get away from the simple gifts of grace and truth - confusing religion with relationship. We may think this letter applies only to those in Corinth, but Paul makes it clear that it was also for 'all who call out to Jesus' - wherever they may live.

That means there are lessons within these letters that we can take to heart and there are pitfalls in our faith we can avoid if we are inclined to listen to his wisdom. Grace brings us into relationship with Jesus, but we often bring a whole lot of our past 'beliefs' and 'opinions' into that relationship, don't we? The purpose of Paul writing was not only to correct misunderstood beliefs, but to help us understand our 'freedom' in Christ Jesus. In other words, to move away from certain practices and toward other ones. The whole of God's Word is our best source for understanding what practices to avoid and those we can embrace freely. Whenever we turn to his Word with open hearts and dedicated minds, we find lessons galore just waiting to be learned. The hope is that if we have developed 'wrong beliefs', we will turn away from them and embrace only what is true and pure, moving closer and closer to the heart of Jesus with each step we take. Just sayin!