As we seek to be shaped by NT convictions as we live out NT Christianity this month, here's what I learned from today's reading...

1. About God: He is absolutely sovereign; therefore, we have no reason to have an "entitled" attitude. Instead we are to receive what we receive with overflowing gratitude. Paul uses various forms of "exousia"(don't we have the "right"; everything is "permissible" (you say); we did not use our "right") repeatedly through the first half of this letter. Entitlement destroys gratitude and undermines grace. A healthy view of God's sovereignty sets it right.

2. About NT Christianity: 1Cor 12:12-26 says it clearly. We are one; we may be separate parts, we are really one body—the very body of Christ! Any one of us CANNOT say to the others "I don't need you." We're in this together as a community bonded by the very blood of God's Son. That's a difficult one for western individualists. It looks suspicious to westerners whose minds are shaped by our culture. So as we pursue true unity/community it will be counter-culturally challenging. It has indeed arroused suspicions. And we're not even halfway there to aspire to the same koinonia (community) as our NT brothers and sisters.

3. DWIS (Do What It Says): During today's "Scattered Hunt", live as community and work as a team (this is being posted a few days later - we did in fact spend Friday evening and all day Saturday together in exciting evangelistic challenges. Community is sweet!)