"Don't Make Me Come in There!"

For the past several days, Paul has been warning the Corinthians of his upcoming visit, giving them an opportunity to change their ways prior to his arrival. In his role as a spiritual father to the early churches, Paul was giving them the infamous parental warning of "don't make me come in there!" In other words, "you'd better work this out before I arrive!"

These new believers were figurative children in terms of their faith. They were mixing truth with lies and challenging authority. Their attitude was poor, they were unwelcoming of visitors and were unwilling to part with their "stuff" to share in the great offering being taken. In general, they were acting like a bunch of toddlers and Paul was about to arrive to impart a little godly discipline on the group as a whole. But he didn't want to do it! He admonished them to examine themselves and clean up their act so he wouldn't have to be the "heavy".

Even as I compare this group in Corinth to children, I can clearly see the correlation to modern believers like myself. We are uncomfortable if someone points out to us that we are both in the world AND of it. We squirm in our seats when there is a stewardship drive or plans to renovate the building, because "we have college and retirement to save for." Our attitudes towards those that God has put in authority over us can be, shall we say, less than respectful.

And so Paul's closing words in this letter sound amazingly similar to what I say to my quarreling children, and they are the instructions God has for each of us in today's reading:

Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.