1Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly? 5I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers? 6But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! 7Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.
9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. 11Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Seek the Things that Are Above
Gazing Up at the Moon in a Field
I have some startling news for you. Reader, you no longer belong to you. You were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). You now belong to Jesus. You were crucified with Christ, meaning as a believer, you have died to self. Paul gives explicit instructions on what you are to do now, having been raised together with Christ. You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), so what does that mean? You must center your life around God’s agenda, and that should take precedence over your own agenda. That means first, you must redirect your thoughts to the “things that are above”. Those things are those which God is doing in the spiritual realm. Paul fleshes this out in Philippians chapter four when he instructs,
8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 WEB)
When you focus your mind on those things, it will automatically remove your thoughts from “things that are on the earth” —the baser things. You will begin to see people as God sees them. Instead of looking at them with a critical eye, you will see them more and more with the mind of Christ. As a pastor, people sometimes criticize me, saying, “You just aren’t able to see the bad in people.” They couldn’t be more wrong about that. I can see the bad in people, but when I put on the mind of Christ, I think I see them as God does. I see all that they can or could be if they submit themselves to God’s transformational power. I guess I see them as the best version of themselves. Perhaps I err on that side, but I’d rather make those sorts of errors than to be suspicious of each and every move of those around me. It’s easy to see others' faults. It’s hard to see our own faults. Your life begins to be hidden with Christ when you start to see what God is doing around you, including in the people with whom you come into contact. Reader, today focus on the things above. Be hidden in Christ Jesus.