Thought for June 12, 2023

 History:

• 1665: New Amsterdam becomes a British colony and is renamed New York
• 1849: Gas mask patented
• 1859: Comstock Load discovered
• 1942: Anne Frank receives a diary as a birthday present
• 1944: First V-1 rocket attack on London
• 1948: Citation wins the Belmont and the Triple Crown
• 1963: Medgar Evers killed in Jackson MS
• 1964: Nelson Mandela begins a 27 year jail term
• 1967: Loving v. Virginia strikes down laws against interracial marriage
• 1981: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" premiers
• 1987: President Reagan says, "tear down that wall."
• 2013: Russia passes a law banning gay "propaganda"
• Born: John Roebling [engineered the Brooklyn Bridge], George HW Bush, Anne Frank, Jim Nabors, Chris Young [country music]
• Died: William Cullen Bryant, Sanford Bennett ["In the Sweet By and By"], Jimmy Dorsey, Milburn Stone [Doc on "Gunsmoke"], Bill Blass, Gregory Peck
• Sanford Bennet wrote "In the Sweet By and By" as a song of encouragement. He was a pharmacist. One day, his friend Joe Webster came in depressed and Sanford asked what was wrong. Joe responded, "It will be all right by and by." Sanford immediately wrote the words to the song and handed them to Joe--"Here is your prescription." If you are depressed today, sing the song, "There's a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we shall see it afar; for the Father waits over the way, to prepare us a dwelling place there." That's good news!

Thought:

Have you ever been falsely or wrongly accused? Or perhaps something you said or did was misunderstood. The church at Corinth had made some accusations against Paul arising from the fact that they thought he had promised to visit them but did not [2 Cor. 1:15-16]. As with most accusations, one claim births a lot of other claims---other people chime in with their accusations. In the first chapter of Second Corinthians, Paul is accused of several things: insincerity, waffling and instability [1:17], acting from fleshly wisdom [1:12], being careless with God's will [1:17], just pleasing himself, speaking out of both sides of his mouth [1:15-18].  I am thinking about how I react when falsely accused: anger, revenge, loud defense, talk bad about my accusers. I'm looking at how Paul responded

• Paul made sure his conscience was clear. [1:12] He examined himself to make sure the accusations were not well founded. Sometimes when we examine ourselves, we understand why we were misunderstood or maybe we discover that we have spoken or acted wrongly ourselves and that the claims are justified.
• Paul looked for areas of common agreement [1:14]. Paul acknowledges that the problem is a misunderstanding. Then he reminds the Corinthians of their common love and respect for each other. I have said before that when I find myself in a disagreement with someone, I first try to go back to the point where we were in agreement. In theological disagreements, this might mean going back to "we agree that there is one true and living God," "we agree that we are all sinners saved by grace," etc. I often find that we do not have a disagreement after all or that we disagree about the minors, not the majors. 
• Focus the conversation on Jesus [1:20]. He is the "Amen" to all God's promises. In Him we find unity and purpose.

If I could just remember how to respond to accusations and criticism, I could avoid needless controversy and maintain unity in the body--whether that is the church, the family or any other relationship. 

Blessings

Larry