”….so that you may approve what is excellent….”  Phil. 1:10

If you are a born-again Christian you know as well as I do that we haven´t got rid of the old flesh.  As a born-again believer you and I have, however, also become partakers of a divine nature, 2 Pet. 1:4.
The problem is that like the Corinthians we may be living on plain carnal terms taken up with a lot so called “good things” in the world, discussing moral issues or lamenting for our political leaders or certain cultural trends, but without any real passion for the Lord and His gospel.

To the deluded Corinthians Paul had to write:  “I couldn´t speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ.”  (1 Cor. 3:1).  George E. Gardiner calls it “The Corinthian Catastrophe” in a small book with this very title and applies it to our modern Christian practice.

Praise God, there are also these days heartfelt cries for revival.  The streamlined, stagey churches with all their either “contemporary” or “traditional” worship will do little good.  “Good things”  may easily become the enemy of the best (“the excellent”), which is the cause of Christ and His gospel.  But how can we preach the gospel to others if we are not living a revived gospel life ourselves?

-jn-

26.4.09