We Have Arrived
The Corinthian church had been richly blessed by God. The generous God who had blessed them, was brought to them by a man who was at the centre of a heated debate. Some said he was of God, some said he was an obvious loser, some said he was a shrewd con-man out for loot, others thought he was a wimp, a pathetic, wandering little preacher in search of some self-esteem; a tough letter-writer but gutless when he came down to a face-to-face engagement.
Whatever they thought of Paul, the Corinthians thought more of themselves. Their arrogance and self-centredness led them, on the one hand, to engage in sexual immorality for which they could give intellectual defence, and on the other, to want to shine as the brightest lights in the assembly. Whatever gave them centre stage and showed off their intellectual grasp of this new faith--that was the thing to be pursued.
So when Paul imagines himself (in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3) as having all the gifts to perfection; knowing all the answers, making all the exotic sounds, working all the wondrous works or burning like a torch against the night sky--when Paul paints that picture, that's the Corinthian in his heaven! If he were like that, he had arrived!
But that's not arrival!
It might evoke the jealousy of all around but it isn't arrival. It would mean everyone would know you; they'd point and whisper, "There she/he goes, that's her/him. Can speak more languages than anyone on earth, can speak a word and disease runs away, can answer any question you can think to ask and even knows things that people don't know enough to ask about. She/he is known from one end of the brother/sisterhood to the other. Reads the Old Testament right out of a Hebrew text--a non-vocalized text, mark you."
But that's not arrival!
With only love of self, without love of God-God doesn't know that person! The one, in all creation that we would want to recognize us, would say, "And who do you say you are? No, I don't know you. I've never heard of you."
What made it clear that the richly-blessed Corinthians hadn't arrived? Their non-arrival showed in the way they childishly pouted and sulked when things didn't go to please them; the way they insisted that they get centre-stage and how they were jealous of the praise others got. They knew the faith so well that they could explain why it was all right for them to do dishonourable things or prove themselves right while burying a brother or a sister. (See 1 Cor 6:12-20; 8:1-13; 11:22; 13:4-7; 14:20, 26-32.)
And what does arrival mean to us? If we fought and overcame that specific wrong, would we have arrived? If we had all the money anyone could possibly spend, is that arrival? If we mark in the world, if we gained the acclaim we long for, the health we wish we had, the family or possessions we wish were ours-what then?
What would it take, do you think, for God to shout, "There's ---. I know her/him"? (1 Cor 8:3; 13:12)
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy for allowing me to post from his webpage, the abiding word.com.