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1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:1-9 NRSV)
Happy Tuesday, dear One. I don't know who taught me to give thanks for anything special done for me. And whoever it was said that done in my handwriting was a good thing. (They obviously did not know my penmanship!). For instance, this past Sunday after worship, our family drove to Moulton, a small town near Shiner that has a nice Sunday-after-church restaurant. Some Sundays they even have turkey and dressing! And when they don't, they have nice fried chicken. By family, it was Nellie, two of our girls, our granddaughter, and our son-in-law. We sat at a table and enjoyed a good meal. As it was nearing time for the check, a waitress that had not been ours, showed us the back of our bill that had written on it, "The Phantom strikes again!" I asked was this so-and-so? She said no and told me the name of the Phantom. Once I got home I wrote the Phantom and his spouse a thank you letter.
The Apostle Paul loved to write thank you, and what is wrong with you letters? The majority of the New Testament, in my opinion, is the latter. Or as I like to say it, "Behave!" letters from the Apostle. And this is one of those. The passage starts with an admonishment, "Why can't you be more spiritual?" I should get one of those at least once a week, to be honest. Paul is saying, you haven't shown much spiritual maturity; you're still babbling on like infants, and you're fighting and quarreling like jealous children. And you've been arguing about baptism! And if we think about it, the spiritually immature find it easy to argue and fight about almost anything. But Paul says, each of us that you mention who baptized him or her, that's all we did! We planted, and some watered, but it was God who gave the growth; we are just God's servants doing God's work, working together. And for the good of God's kingdom.
It's a call to maturity, spiritual maturity. We are to trust God and yearn to be like Him and then work all that we need to work to mature and begin to work with others for the good of God's work here on the earth.
PRAYER: Awesome God, we seek to mature in our spirits and in our hearts. Touch us with grace, joy, and peace that we may truly grow to be like You. Bless us to be a blessing. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Show some maturity towards others; show them how easy it can be to ask and receive from God.
Receive my blessings of love and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
