Jan 29, 2019
By Katie Brown
Imagine attending a church in which everyone was obsessed with competition and comparison. It would be difficult to praise God while constantly looking around at others. Such a toxic environment of “self” would make fellowship and worship for many of us uncomfortable and disheartening.
Although that hypothetical situation seems extreme, there are trace amounts of self-interest and competition in all churches. Christians are being slowly transformed into God’s image (II Corinthians 3:18), but it is easy to see that not one person on this earth is perfect yet. I don’t say this to attack the church, but to point out that this is an area that can always improve. I Peter 5:8 states the enemy is like a lion always on the hunt, and this enemy would love to turn our focus away from God.
You have probably heard the phrase, “comparison is the thief of joy.” This quote is attributed to Theodore Roosevelt and it bolsters the idea of gratitude and contentment in all circumstances. I believe Paul in I Corinthians takes this idea of comparison one step further by showing that comparison is also the thief of love.
In I Corinthians 12, Paul addresses the gifts in the church and how members of the church body are like parts of the human body. We are dependent on each other and should strive to work together in harmony, instead of wishing we had a different or “more important” role. Although Paul says it is good to want the best gifts (those that honor God and help others), he laid out in the next chapter (13) what our focus should be instead of comparison: love.
If you are like me, you might have often heard I Corinthians 13 associated with marriage or family love. It is easily quotable and the ideas are those of commitment and humility. When you view the chapter as an outline for how to love your brothers and sisters in Christ, it brings a whole new dimension to everyday fellowship in our churches. Take a minute to meditate on I Corinthians 13: 4-7 in the Bible version of your choice and focus on how these concepts can be applied to your life in your local body of believers. Here is The Message version which gives a conversational approach to the Scripture meaning and might be helpful for some readers for further understanding.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
The idea of loving each other in the church is repeated throughout Scripture. Paul says in Romans 12:10 ESV that we are to “outdo one another in showing honor.” If we are focused on loving God and loving each other, then we would not have room in our hearts and minds for jealousy and comparison. At the end of I Corinthians 12, Paul saw the beginning of what could be a problem of competition and entreated the church to follow a better way of living, what the ESV version calls “a still more excellent way.” This is the way of love.
Paul emphasizes that not only should we have love, but anything we do without love is worthless. You cannot be patient or kind without love. You can act out versions of these and other spiritual fruits, but they would only be fragile shells if you do not have love. Any act we do to exalt ourselves will be nothing, because it did not come from love.
When you are interacting with your church members do you care more for others than yourself? Do you seek to have your contributions acknowledged, instead of acknowledging others? Do you ever force your new ideas or way of doing things on those who are not ready yet? These can be tough questions, but graciously God has given His children the Holy Spirit to help us fight our flesh and our tendency to idolize self. Praise God for His perfect example of loving imperfect people.
