Covid lockdown – day four (4)
Covid lockdown – Day four (4)
We await the outcome for tomorrow as we, Lord willing, step out of the enforced lockdown.
As we prepare to celebrate Communion together this Sunday, Lord willing, Paul reminds us that we are to examine ourselves in preparation – what does he mean?
Many as they read this passage think they are unworthy to partake of Communion if they are struggling with a certain sin or wrestling with a particular temptation, or simply have blown it in the last few days.
That sort of reasoning is like a doctor advising a sick person to get well and then come and see him.
The Lord’s table is a blessed place, and it is the place for the person wrestling with sin, temptation, stumbling, because at the table you can pray and ask the Lord that you desperately need Him, and you desire greatly to eat of His body and drink of His blood (symbolically), knowing that you are indeed forgiven, to thank Him for His sacrifice for you and to celebrate this in His remembrance.
Paul was reminding people not to treat Communion as nothing more than a meaningless tradition or ritual. Thus, there were some in Corinth who were remaining in a state of spiritual weakness because they were not giving worth or value to the place of Communion.
As we approach the end of the Covid lockdown it would be a good time to examine our hearts as to whether we treat anything else that God desires or commands of us, as meaningless tradition or purely ritual.
Things such as our reading of God’s Word daily, our spending time in prayer daily and throughout the day, our church attendance, our faithfulness in giving, our willingness to serve.
Over the past 40 plus years, Helen and I have spoken to many couples whose marriages were crumbling, drifting apart, because they had begun to treat their spouse, their vows of love, their promises of faithfulness, as ritual and of no real meaning!
God has given to you a time to examine yourself. Let us come to the Lord’s table and give it the reverence it deserves this Sunday.