1 Corinthians 1:4-9
“He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1:8-9
I am amazed at the greetings Paul always begins with. He knows exactly what each different audience needs and how to meet those needs. A prime example of God working through His people.
In verse 7 as he is greeting the Corinthians, he tells them that they will not be without spiritual gifts as they are waiting for Jesus to come back. The other night in my 4-6 grade class at church, we were discussing the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-28). Jesus taught about spiritual gifts and how we are to use them to further His Kingdom and bring us closer to Him. I am trying to teach them that God has created each of them for a purpose. Not a worldly purpose (one was proud that she could touch her tongue to her nose as her talent – which is great, but…) but how God made each of us special in a way that helps us stay close to Him and teach others about Him. I was amazed when we got to a deeper level and the kids started talking about the gifts God had given them. One spoke of bravery while another spoke of good listening skills and yet another believed he had been given the gift of art and writing. Then came an even more awe inspiring moment when a few were too shy to share so others spoke up and pointed out gifts that they saw in them. Wow! God is working in mighty ways in that class. But as we went even further and started discussing why we have those talents, you could almost see light exploding from their heads. It finally made sense to them that they can use the way God made them to bring others to Him.
This is one way that we can see how God has called us into fellowship with Him as is stated in verse 9. He created us to be with Him, to have a relationship with Him. And when we find that fellowship with Him, He will hold us firm to the end and we will remain blameless.
Fighting Fire with Light 