A Christian Before Anything Else

“But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk.  And so ordain I in all churches.”  I Corinthians 7:17

We all have different talents, abilities, like, and dislikes.  God made us all different.  Everything that we have came from God.  Some of us have more than others, materially speaking, as a result of God’s blessings.  We didn’t get to where we are in life by “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps”.  Some preach a “prosperity gospel” in that if one has enough faith, the riches will come his or her way or if afflicted, will be miraculously healed.  Some believers walk around with a long, frowny face, as if the worst is about to happen.  They have a negative view of life rather than a life of godly joy.  How do folks wind up in the place or situation in which they find themselves?

Not all, but most of life’s troubles are usually caused by bad decisions that people make.  On the other hand, the good things in life that people experience are by the grace of God.  Paul urged the church members at Corinth to take what the Lord had provided for them and pattern their lives as Christ would lead them.  A person’s socio-economic, educational, or physical attributes do not matter to one’s ability to be a committed follower of Christ.  All believers, regardless of their status in life, are to conduct themselves as becomes a Christian.  The believer is, first of all, a Christian before he or she is anything else.  A Christians’ life is defined by his or her relationship with Christ.  All other earthly relationships will end eventually through death, disagreement, or distance.  Jesus is truly the One with whom we can have a lifelong relationship, now and forever.

Paul also urged his readers to “abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (verse 20).  This makes me think about the believer who is the only Christian in his or her workplace and who desires to leave because it is uncomfortable being surrounded by unbelievers, especially if they mock Christianity.  However, God didn’t call us to be comfortable in a world filled with sin and sinners.  Rather, He called us to be a light in the dark (Matthew 5:14) to show folks the way to Christ and salvation and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) to act as a preserver of all that is good and godly in a world sorely in need of some good news.  We are not to yield ground to the devil; we are to persevere to reclaim what has been lost to the forces of evil.  We are to surrender to the Lord only and not to man.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 to “fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”.

One’s occupation, status, or standing in the world makes no difference to being accepted by God.  A servant has the same opportunity to be made whole in Christ as the one whom he or she serves.  Paul was speaking of slaves and slaveowners.  The servant, or slave, may not be free physically to come and go and do as he or she pleases, but his or her spirit in the Lord is free from the dominion and slavery of sin.  Sin is a slave owner–the worst kind.  Unbelievers think they are free, but they are in bondage to sin.  They do what sin wants.  They don’t have the strength to say no to sin for they do not have the power of the Holy Spirit within to show them the “escape hatch”, nor do most of them have a desire to avoid sin.  They don’t understand what a dangerous game they are playing.  We have just seen on the news about an actress who seems to be so lost in sin that she caused a very bad accident with her car and caused a lady’s house to burn down.  Her sin caused harm to a person that she didn’t even know.  Someone said that “sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay”.  That is so true.

Paul reminded the believers at Corinth, as well as all of us, that God paid an enormous, heavy price to redeem all who come to Christ in faith, giving up His only Son so that many could become His sons and daughters.  It is to the Lord that believers owe their gratitude and their lives in service to Him.  Man has no claim on the souls of the redeemed who, in turn, have no obligation to become enslaved to mankind.  Jesus is the Master, not king or presidents or earthly rulers.  The believer’s loyalty is to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and in whatever stage of life and situation they find themselves, they can rest in the arms of a loving Father who cares for them like no other.