That is why many of you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world  (1 Corinthians 11:24).

“You have two choices. You can discipline yourselves, or I can discipline you.”

As a middle school teacher, I have used that line many times. And it’s true–if you can’t control yourself, you’re inviting someone else to do it for you. That is pretty much always worse.

It would seem that many of the Corinthians were sick, and some had died of this sickness. Paul argues that this is God’s discipline on those who were violating the Lord’s Supper. How were they doing this? Well, we’ll get into that more in the next verses, but suffice to say that they were focusing too much on the “Supper” part and not enough on the “Lord” bit.

Beloved, each of us has areas of our lives that are not fully submitted to God.  Maybe we consider them small transgressions, hardly worthy of notice.

God notices.

Your Father wants you to grow spiritually big and strong, and if that requires correction on his part, he will not hesitate to apply it.

Perhaps a little self-discipline could help us avoid other kinds of discipline, hmm?

Just a thought.

Happy Thursday, Beloved