Micah Bemenderfer

September 11, 2023

Mark Mark

Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verses: 6:2-4

Thought

God intends to put believers in charge of other men and in charge of angels, such that they judge them. If we are supposed to judge men and angels, we should be able to figure out what is right and wrong even now, and so be able to judge disputes between brothers even today. God's word must be sufficiently understandable that we can grasp it sufficiently to judge matters in this life as well as the next. God will not change in eternity. Who He is today is who He was yesterday and who He will be tomorrow. But not all have the same degree of wisdom, so not all are qualified to judge, though they should be, because the same information is available to all, but not all avail themselves of it to the same degree.

Application

I have no interest in being responsible for other people. I'd much rather be left alone and be responsible for only myself. In truth, being responsible for others is only tolerable if those in your care are responsive and obedient, or if there is a means to enforce compliance. And the latter option is no joy, but necessary where there is an unwillingness to trust and obey. That will apparently be the case in Christ's kingdom. There will be obedient and submissive people, which makes leading a joy, but there will also be those who resist, and Christ will rule with an iron sceptre and will be quick to punish the resistant. Those appointed to rule under His authority will surely also have the ability to require obedience from those who resist, so ruling in His kingdom will be better than ruling now. But still I look on it with trepidation. Nevertheless, my desire to know and understand the will and ways of the Lord is not in order to rule as He desires, but simply to know and honor Him with my life. But the more I know Him, the more I feel compelled to correct the error I see around me among His people. Still, I would rather keep my mouth shut and let God deal directly with His chosen people. But that's not what He intends. What a wretched man I am! The only real solution is to never have been born, but that's too late for me.

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