There are plenty of things we don’t know this morning. We don’t know what the day holds. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know what life this time next year will be like.
Sometimes, what we do know (or think we know) “puffs us up.” We do not yet know as we ought to know if our “knowledge” compels us to arrogantly look down on, talk down to, or rudely treat the people around us. “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1).
In a world where there are plenty of things we don’t know, as we live in an environment where “knowledge” is often used as a weapon to belittle or tear down our fellow image-bearers, it can be easy to feel as if we can’t know or have somehow lost the most fundamental building blocks of life. Is there any solid ground on which to stand? Can I be confident of anything? Is there any valid reason for unashamed boldness in anything or anyone?
In 1 Corinthians 8:5-6, the Holy Spirit has provided and preserved a sharp lens through which we can see life, the way it was meant to be, with crystal clarity and confident humility.
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
There is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)
We exist through this one Lord, Jesus Christ.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
We exist for God, the Father.
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)
And most spectacular of all? “If anyone loves God, he is known by God” (1 Cor 8:3).
From God, through Jesus. Through Jesus, for God. Let’s be confident, kind, and full of love as we live in the glorious light of those crystal clear truths today.