Year 5, Day 70: 1 Corinthians 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition, Chemistry, Identity

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.
• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Ambition, Chemistry, Identity.  Where do these three discipleship concepts converge?  Where the converge is really different for everyone.  But I can tell you where they should converge: the cross.  They should converge upon the abandonment of the self and the embracing of God’s ways.  They should converge in the place that Paul speaks about in Galatians 2:19-20.  “For through the Law I have died to the Law so that I might live to God.  Therefore I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”

You see, we all have ambition.  We all look to our life and say, “I want to accomplish this or that or something else.”  We all look to life and want our own way.  As followers of God, we learn to put aside our own ambitions and embrace Christ.

Of course, much of our ambition will also affect the chemistry that we have with other people.  Do our goals mesh well?  Are we seeking the same purpose in life?  Are our pursuits running parallel to one another?  We typically get along with people who are pursuing the same goals, the same ideals, and the same values as we pursue.

But where do these goals, ideals, morals, and values come from?  Where is it that we get our identity?  It should come from the Father.  It should come from our abandonment of the self and the embracing of His character.  And here we see that it is in identity that chemistry and ambition find their rule.  When our identity is right, our ambition will be godly.  When our identity and ambition are right, we will have chemistry with the people in our life that God places before us.

So how does this all tie in with 1 Corinthians 1?  in this chapter, Paul speaks much about unity and divisions in the church.  Why are there divisions?  Divisions occur because we are often too busy pursuing our own ambition and not pursuing God’s ambition for us.  Division occurs because when our ambition is apart from God it is hard to have chemistry with the people around us.  Division occurs when our identity is not coming from God.

If we want the kind of unity about which Paul speaks in this chapter, we need to get our identity from God.  We need to be able to have chemistry with the godly people around us.  And we need to let go of our own ambition and pursue God’s ambition for us.

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