Day 16: Spiritual Food in Quarantine

“Let All Things Be Done For Edification”

(1 Cor 14:1-19, Mk 9:20-41)

Before he wrote 3 short letters containing the word “love” 33 times, John was not exactly loving. He and brother James wanted to fry Samaritans with fire from heaven just because they would not allow them into their territory. In Mark 9, he grilled someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name just because he was not of their number.

Love is the motive behind a desire to build up others. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14 that he would rather speak 5 productive words than 10,000 unproductive ones. It’s so easy to see the speck in another’s eye and miss the log in our own. When we do, we babble meaningless, even hurtful, rhetoric and display haughtiness rather than the meekness of Christ.

Jesus told his disciples it’s wrong to ask who sinned when there’s a misfortune; the right question is “how can we bring God’s mercy and grace into this?” Especially in a very touchy situation such as the present crisis, we should speak and act in ways that encourage and not tear down, give hope and not add anxiety. Let all we do be done for edification. Then they’ll know we are Christians.