Lent

March 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. –1 Corinthains 10:6-13

Bad behavior can result in bad outcomes, but not necessarily. Good behavior can also result in bad outcomes. For example, the person who jumps in a lake to save a child from drowning drowns. I believe Jesus when he says it rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). That does not authorize us to do bad things. More times than not our bad behavior catches up with us whether it is overeating or mistreating others or robbing convenience stores. Our ancestors in faith lived in a time when direct connections were made from a bad outcome to something someone had done. When I worked in a nursing home one of the patients told me the story about the long red birthmark on her thigh. Her mother told her the birthmark was punishment for her mother’s climbing over a fence to take fruit from a neighbor’s tree. She slipped and the barbed wire cause an identical scar on her mother’s thigh. I did not know what to make of that when I was 19. I doubt she ever stole fruit from a neighbor’s tree. Paul’s comment No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone is important for us to heed. We come from a different perspective when we are tested because God is faithful and is always with us.

Prayer: Thanks be to God. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.