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Paul O. Tarsus Wasn’t A PC Kinda Guy


I like the analogy shared in my quarterly lesson this week. Do remember children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar? That little guy crawled around and ate everything in sight. But he didn’t remain a caterpillar. He was destined for higher things. One day he was set apart from the other crawling creatures. He changed. He became a butterfly.

The scripture this week comes from 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11. I’ll post it at the end. Some may find it a tad bit alarming. I’m pretty sure that the Christians in Corinth did. That’s who Paul was addressing his letter to. A lot of them were doing things that were not appropriate, so he called them out on it. It applies to all of us today, too.

In an odd way it reminds me of when I was a kid in the third grade. My teacher was Mrs. Fancher.

If your school classrooms were like mine back then, the teachers sat the children in alphabetical order. Naturally I had to sit at the front of my class because my last name began with A.

I confess that I wasn’t a good student. I had Attention Deficit Disorder before anyone had ever coined the terminology. I was constantly being disciplined. The first thing Mrs. Fancher would do was write my name on the board. The next time she had to call me down she’d put a mark by my name. When I had five marks beside my name she would paddle me. I really didn’t mind. She had broken her arm the year before paddling another kid named Ricky, so she was afraid to hit me very hard.

After a while she figured out her little system wasn’t going to work with me.

Who ever said teachers can’t learn? After the last spanking she applied to my posterior she moved my desk to the very front of the classroom and shoved it up beside her’s.

I was set aside. I was destined for something different, just like that very hungry caterpillar, I changed.

That’s what God does for us when we come to Him. He sets us aside. We are special. We are his and destined for greater things.

Am I perfect? No. I’m still the same kid that had to sit by my teacher’s desk back in the third grade. However, I am conscious of my behavior. I am occupying an older body nowadays. I’d like to think that I’m wiser, better behaved.

But I have also been redeemed.

These are strange days we are living in. In a sense we are all set aside. It’s a good time to reflect on how we have and can change. How we can be a better us.

He said, “Be still and know that I am God.”

This is a great time to do that while we are set apart from our friends and neighbors.

Now here is the scripture I mentioned earlier.

“Don’t you know that the unrighteousness will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterated, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

I suppose there were PC police even back in Paul’s day. He was beaten, thrown in prison and eventually killed. It’s not always easy, is it?

But just like Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over til it’s over.”

Paul won out in the end. So will we. Better days are coming. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and forever. And especially now if you’re in isolation with small children.

_______________
Rick Algood
March 22, 2020

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