The Relationships

I gain hope from how messed up the church in Corinth was. In fact, as I think about the New Testament churches, I don't see many (any?) that did not have major problems. The New Testament documents themselves were almost exclusively written to address the problems being experienced in the churches. In spite of that, the gospel was spreading and new congregations were springing up everywhere. How marvelous that God doesn't need us to get everything "fixed" for Him to work in wonderful ways. His grace is what saves us and his grace is what sustains us. Far from making us complacent, may God's grace have the same effect in our lives that it had in the life of the one who because of his former life, called himself, "the least of the apostles." In his own words, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).