Reflection on CORINTHIANS ADVENTURES
The journey
through the two weeks of Corinthians has been tremendously overwhelming – not
in a bad way, but more like many subtle but impactful revelations all at once. RELOOK, RETHINK and REFOCUS! God
has graciously shown me certain aspects of my life that needed a makeover in
thought, word or action.
Revisiting issues in Corinthians like
church division, love, marriage, freedom, spiritual gifts, the Resurrection of
Christ and of the dead has been awesome. Some of these issues are sensitive,
while some are those that we shy away from talking about, or worse, sweep under
the carpet. Each topic has been helpful in making my learning most meaningful
and enjoyable.
The most important lesson that I learnt
from the Corinthians journey can be found in 1 Corinthians 13 - LOVE NEVER
FAILS. Without LOVE, everything we do loses its flavour. Love is never easy
to adopt in our thoughts, words or actions. We have to consciously build it in until
it becomes second nature to us, a lifestyle. Many times I find myself doing
things reluctantly or grudgingly. Then the Holy Spirit comes along to prompt me
to reflect on my action and I realise that it had been done without much love.
This constant reminder has helped me to examine my actions, overcome my
negative feelings and be a better person so I can give God the glory through
what I do – always with love.
On the topic of MARRIAGE in 1 Corinthian 7 – I am now fully
convinced that ‘marriage is forever’ no matter how one tries to find excuses to
wrangle one’s way out whenever things do not turn out well. Many couples seem
to have the idea that a separation is an option, but it is definitely not the
case as outlined by Paul. He commands in verse 10, that husband or wife are “..not
(to be) separate from...” each other. I used to think that it is all right for
each to go their separate ways instead of to the court to get a formal divorce.
Apparently separation is not the answer, for Paul says one has to remain
unmarried or be reconciled to the spouse! Therefore, divorce is out of the
question. Truly this has helped me to change my perspective of marriage and
divorce once and for all. I find the content useful too when I need to share it
with others.
This book on “Marriage & Family”
by Wayde and Rosalyn Goodall [1] is highly recommended as
it contains all one needs to know about how to make your marriage a success. It
is very comprehensive and covers topics like preparing for marriage, adjusting
to marriage, relating and succeeding as a family and roles of the husband and
wife. Important issues like communication, sexuality and handling tough challenges
are also discussed here. In my interaction with the content I found it
extremely practical in helping me to refocus and to do my utmost to make my
marriage a success.
The class discussion on the resurrection
of believers and the resurrection body
proved to be very interesting and insightful. Everyone has one view or
another of the resurrection and this topic has never stopped fascinating people
everywhere. We were very curious as to the form that our bodies will take at
the resurrection when Jesus comes again. The analogy of the seed showed that
God will give us a radiant body that is suitable for our mode of existence at the
future time. This knowledge is sufficient to spur us on to persevere in good
works for the Lord and remain faithful to the gospel. I have always wondered
what our bodies would look like, but have to leave it to God for only He knows.
The present body will be transformed for the future. Suffice to say that it
will be a glorious body, like Jesus. The challenge I face here is how to be confident
enough to use this knowledge of the resurrection as a channel for evangelism to
pre-believers.
In group work, planning the paper
and the Uganda skit with my members has been an especially exciting and unforgettable
learning experience. I was thrilled to see all my members totally united and pitching
in so willingly to take on the various tasks required of us. There was never
any question about rights, inconvenience or work allocation. Each one just did
the tasks required with promptness, love and joy. Through this group project, I
could see the wonderful potential that God has deposited in each one of us. All
in all, the effort and time spent walking the Corinthian journey has been more
than fruitful and worthwhile – my teachers and fellow course-mates have helped tremendously
to make my journey a most memorable one!
