The difference

Suppose Paul were alive today and visited our churches, went to a few basketball games, watched TV in the homes of the people he met at church, visited the shopping mall and interacted with the crowd at the local bar. Would he see any difference in the people he met on the patio of the church and the ones at the game, the mall or the bar?

The people to whom Paul wrote his 13 letters were at one time no different from the ones who hung out at the public games, the drinking establishments and the brothels of the first century. The brothel in ancient Ephesus was the largest and most palatial structure in the city. The temple of Aphrodite in ancient Corinth was filled with a thousand prostitutes, operating as priestesses under the veil of religion.

To the church in Corinth Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god. And that is what some of you were.” Then he adds, “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“ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Their lives had been changed and what they were prior to their encounter with Jesus Christ was vastly different from the individuals they had become. How about you? Are you allowing Jesus to change you?

This is why He came – to make a difference in your life so that you are clearly seen as set apart from the world. God’s children should always reflect the image of their Father.