The Verse of the Day for May 21, 2017 presents a similar challenge related to yesterday’s topic of being “like-minded” or thinking the same thing. Today we examine 1 Corinthians 1:10 in the Amplified Bible:
But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in perfect harmony and full agreement in what you say, and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.
The New Living Translation renders the verse this way:
1 Corinthians 1:10:
[Divisions in the Church] I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
The Darby Bible offers a similar translation:
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all say the same thing, and that there be not among you divisions; but that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion.
This particular verse brings to mind the time when I first began to reflect upon a passage of scripture, while engaging in the writing process. In 1971, I remember being asked to produce a writing sample, and I wrote a brief commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:10. At that time I was intrigued by the Amplified Bible that concludes the verse in this way :”. . . that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.”
Regarding the term “opinions,” someone has said that opinions are like noses—everybody has one. Even so, believers are encouraged to hold the same opinion regarding who we are in Christ. The verse from 1 Corinthians also came to mind in response to this statement by Nate Clements: “Don’t let someone else’s opinion become your reality.”
As we continue on our lifelong journey of discovery of who we are, many times we encounter varying opinions, as our identity unfolds through the changing seasons of life. Recently conversations with various individuals have centered on the issues of identity, as we all, particularly Christian believers, struggle to find and maintain our “true identity.” Among of the principal challenges of the whole of humanity is to find the answer to two of life’s fundamental questions: “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” For followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, our Father, the Creator of Life, provides the answers to those questions and every other question anyone may seek to find answers to in the Word of God which becomes the mirror in which we see ourselves clearly revealed.” The following poem also expresses what we are learning about who we really are:
Our True Identity
But we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
II Corinthians 3:18
We look in the mirror of God’s Word and we see
People of God transformed to be all we shall become,
Reflected in our eyes, our true identity.
Released from shackles of a slave mentality,
The bondage of Egypt we have now overcome.
We look in the mirror of God’s Word and we see.
As we are pressing onward to our destiny,
In our hearts we have prepared for God a new home,
Reflected in our eyes, our true identity.
In Christ we are made new, our new reality:
Walking in love, models of the Father’s Kingdom.
We look in the mirror of God’s Word and we see.
Blessings in double measure abound toward us richly,
Flowing by the spirit in knowledge and wisdom,
Reflected in our eyes, our true identity.
We live to fulfill our prophetic destiny,
As joys unfold with even greater joys to come.
We look in the mirror of God’s Word and we see
Reflected in our eyes, our true identity.
As believers, the essence of who we are is grounded in God’s opinion of us and not any individual’s assessment of who we are. As Steven Curtis Chapman sings, we are “Who You say we are.”
Dr. J's Apothecary Shoppe 