Month: January 2024

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 10  Day 2

Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

1 Corinthians 10:6

The smartest person in the room doesn’t just learn from his own mistakes but from the mistakes of others.  The problem is that until we get over ourselves, we often just think we’re the smartest person in the room.  Idolatry, immorality, insubordination, and ingratitude always end up in death and destruction.  Learn from the lives of those who have gone before.  Crave good, not evil, and crave life, not death.  That’s really what smart people do.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 10  Day 1

​¹ For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³ and all ate the same spiritual food; ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness

1 Corinthians 10:1-5

This isn’t God’s first rodeo, and He knows what we need better than we do.  Here’s the key!  Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and pay attention to our own spiritual growth and walk.  Anyone can fall, we all do.  But trouble begins when we end up focusing on others and other things rather than ourselves and our God.  We can be walking in the stream and find ourselves face down in the dirt because we’ve taken our eyes off Jesus.  Keep the main thing, the main thing.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 9  Day 5

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Run your race, the one God has called you to, not what others want you to run or need you to run.  Don’t let the freebies and frustrations sideline you.  The focus is witness, not worship.  You can have worship without witness, but you can’t have witness without worship.  Focus on becoming who God wants you to be and you’ll do what God wants you to do.  Run the race to win.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 9 Day 4

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may, by all means, save some. ²³ I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

1 Corinthians 9:22-23

Who are those who are free?  It’s those who know the heart of God through the word of God to live in the love of God.  These have the wherewithal to rise to the occasion, submit to the need, stand against the evil and deception of the enemy, and support and encourage the believer.  Their pursuit and passion is to know God. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 9  Day 3

What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:18

Keep your freedom.  Freedom is never free, but your free to give it away.  Basically, what Paul is saying here is that he is not willing to let anyone else determine how, when, or where he ministers the gospel of God’s love.  This freedom is the freedom to live in love.  That’s what freedom really is, the freedom to live in love, being loved.  Are you free to live in love, being loved, today?

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 9  Day 2

If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

1 Corinthians 9:11

Keep the main thing the main thing.  Don’t let anyone persuade you to make earthly pleasures, powers, or possessions the main thing.  When you sow spiritually; you will reap physically.  People who can’t believe will always make it about dirt and drama.  Everything here is just dirt.  Live for the divine.  Let your imagination be molded by God and your expectations will be motivated by God, not man.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 9  Day 1

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 9:1-2

Sin ties us to the soil, the earthly, the demonic.  When that happens drama quickly rules over direction.  All you can do is serve God faithfully and find peace in His faithfulness.  Notice, for Paul, it’s not about throwing dirt on his accusers but rather asking questions about his own activities.   Keep the main thing the main thing and focus on your calling, not others’ contempt.   Questions, not accusations, level the playing field and help us get to the truth.  Don’t let the devil use drama to divert you from God’s direction. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 8  Day 5

Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

1 Corinthians 8:13

If we knew the judgment people were already living under, we might be more compassionate in judging them for being and living differently than we do.  Sin soils the soul and sabotages the spirit of a man.  Healing can take time and tenderness.  Transformation takes revelation. Freedom is a great part of this new life but we can’t let it foil the work God is doing in others.  It’s not about what we want but what He wants.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 8  Day 4

For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. ¹²  And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

1 Corinthians 8:11-12

It’s not what you know but who you know and it’s not about the law, it’s about the love for the one around you.  Those who know the Father of love, let love guide their thoughts, their tongue, and their touch on other’s lives.  The more we understand God’s love for us, the more His love will cause us to love those around us.  That old life of sin was only about loving oneself.  This new life of love is about loving God, self, and others and it’s powerful to bless everyone in the room.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 8  Day 3

But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. ⁹ But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

1 Corinthians 8:8-9

It’s not what you know but who you know that matters.  Those who know Jesus enjoy the fruit of freedom.  No more regulation for freedom but a relationship of freedom.  And this freedom is first and foremost the freedom to love, God, self, and others.  That love guides our thoughts, our tongue, and our touch.  It’s no longer about what we like, but who we love.  This freedom to love gives us to freedom to care about God, self, and those around us.  Think about this:  when it comes to people, possessions, and the pleasures of this life, we can’t enjoy what enslaves us.  Live free!