as you wait for the revealing

The Corinthian church was full of problems.  God still loved them.  Two of the 66 books in the Bible were written to the Church at Corinth.  Every chapter, especially in 1 Corinthians, is an introduction to a different disfunction.  Paul the apostle was careful in how he dealt with the church, but always highlighting the best news in the world, the Gospel of Jesus.  It's interesting how he opens his first book, and herein we discover one of the many great points of how to grow in Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 tells what the apostle viewed, should be the attitude of a believer in a city that conveyed anything but godliness and righteousness. 

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Notice in this thanksgiving section what the apostle says:  "as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ".  This is the point in our day.  The current culture suggests that it is all about me and mine and now.  For the believer, it's about the future.  Stock experts are always quick to point out that the value of a stock is not in what it sells for now so much, but what is it's growth potential?

Believers have a certain future in Christ!  The NT authors frequently referenced the hope of heaven.  Consider what else Christ does for the believer:

who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is more than able to sustain you and I!  This is a sustainment in Christ that is free of guilt!  To God be the Glory!  Verse nine sums it up well, even before Paul begins to address all the problems in that church:

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Whatever is in your future, you can be sure that in Christ you will ALWAYS find God to be faithful! Praise God! 

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