2010 – November 30 – Carnal Christianity

Study from God’s Word… Chapters 1 – 4 of Paul’s second letter to the Church at Corinth, which we know of as 1st Corinthians since the first letter is not available in the canon of Scripture … Passage for Reflection: 1st Corinthians 3: 1 … NIV Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.

My Journal for Today: You’ve probably heard or read the term “carnal Christian” used to describe Christians who were [or are] handling life through human methods or ways of thinking rather than relying on God’s wisdom and the leading of God’s Spirit. So, as Dr. LaGard Smith points out today, that term, “carnal christian,” is somewhat of an oxymoron, isn’t it? If we’re truly Christian, we should be looking to God and following God’s truth rather than relying on self or man’s ways, shouldn’t we?

As the Apostle Paul was trying to point out to the Christians at Corinth (and to each of us in reading his epistles in the Bible), our ability to interpret life and to walk in truth has to do with our maturity and discernment of the truth of the Gospel and the ways of God, which are presented to us in His word. Hence we read in one of God’s later directives, again through Paul, this time to Timothy in 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17, reading that we, as disciples of Christ, are to follow God’s ways from His word in order to overcome the fallacies and foolishness of the world. That’s why Paul was addressing the foolishness of the divisions within the church at Corinth which had resulted by men following men rather than following God and God’s Spirit.

And when we read these charges and challenges Paul wrote to Corinth, we realize that we’re still being “carnal christians” in this world, following personalities rather than the Person of God’s Spirit, Who will lead us exactly where we need to walk, IF we follow HIM and HIS WAYS rather than, as babes, following the lures of carnality we hear today from worldly gurus like Mohammed, Confucius, Joseph Smith, or even one like Oprah Winfrey. Any time we act like children and follow the Pied Pipers of untruth, rather than being like the Bereans (again, see Acts 17: 10-15), we’re going to be led down the path to carnality and away from real Christianity, which relies exclusively on the truth of the Gospel and the message of the Cross which we find embedded in the truth of God’s word.

So, my fellow Christian life traveler, I hearken back to the truth of 2Tim. 3: 16-17, linked here for your review and meditation, keeping us away from human divisiveness and carnal foolishness by shining the light of truth (i.e., the message of Christ through His Spirit) imparted through His word for our direction and guidance through the travails of life.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, in the fogginess of life, I look to the harbor light which is Your truth in Your word. Amen