Identity - Week 9

Family,

Conflict is terrifying. I do not believe I will ever really enjoy it. More terrifying than conflict itself, is to be the person who starts a conflict by confronting another person. That is worse! What if I am wrong? What if I am right? What if that person rejects me or punches me in the mouth? It makes me cringe just talking about it.

The plot gets thicker still, because I am a follower of Christ. And because the Spirit of Christ lives in me, I now have a big problem. In Him, I have been given eyes, ears, and a nose to see, hear, and smell things that are not of Him. It is the thing that stirs within me when I believe I am getting told a lie. It is that ping of fear in me when I see someone making a sinful choice that will harm that person and all those around him or her. Like a big game animal downwind of human scent... it makes me want to bolt for the hills.

Here is the jam in which I find myself now. I am part of a church community that is commanded by God to create a body of believers that possesses enough moral integrity to confront sin for the betterment of the person committing it and for the health of the Church. And hear this, I am as much in need of confronting as the next guy!

So we learn today about our integrity as a community of Christ Followers. 1 Corinthians 5 is all about our charge to judge that which God calls sinful. It is painful, bloody, terrifying work... but there is rich in reward if we will confront the hard things in our church community, and thereby step into our identity.

- Lee