Madison Street United Methodist Church

There’s an interesting passage in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians where Paul says, “…no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus be cursed!’”  Those were the words people would say to prove they were not Christian.  Authorities would come up to someone and ask, “Do you renounce Jesus?”  Now keep in mind it would be to their advantage to say “yes” since being a Christian was a liability and so their response would be, “Jesus be cursed!”  Now here’s the interesting part of all this.  After renouncing Jesus they would then go back to worship as if nothing had happened, and that’s what concerned Paul.  They went to church one day and then lived the rest of the week as if their faith made no difference in the way they lived.  Paul tells us that no one who is really a Christian can go out in the world and deny Christ by the way he or she lives.
 
That challenges us in the church today, doesn’t it?  Of course we would never say “Jesus be cursed,” but could there be times for us that we live the rest of the week as if our faith in Christ makes no difference?  Could there be times when by our actions we are, indeed, saying “Jesus be cursed”?
 
A part of Living A Better Story is allowing the presence of Christ through the Spirit to take over our lives in such a way that there is no doubt who we are and who we follow.  And a part of what that means is who we are on Sunday is who we are the rest of the week.
 
In Christ,
 
Cliff C. Wright, Jr.