Monday, April 6, 2020

30 New Days -Day 20

The 20th  day of a 30 day devotional Bible Study by the Rev. Tracy A. Siegman, Senior Pastor FCC, Covington, KY.  Shared with her gracious permission.

If you read the suggested passage each day, by the end of 30 days you will have read the entire New Testament.

Day 20
30-day reading plan: 1 Corinthians 1 – 9

Daily Verse: 1 Corinthians 3: 6
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

v Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, also wrote a short story called 2-Minute Alchemy . He tells the legend of a man carrying water to his village in 2 pitchers. One of the pitchers was old and had cracks in it. It lost half its water on the journey to the village. The new pitcher was proud of doing its work well and the other older one was ashamed of not being able to carry its fill of water.

One day, the older pitcher apologized to the man for not fulfilling its purpose. The man asked the pitcher to observe the side of the road on their way back to the village. The pitcher noticed that its side of the road was much more beautiful than the other. The man told the pitcher that he had sown the seeds of flowers and vegetables along that side of the road and took advantage of the pitcher’s cracks using it to water that side of the road on the journey back to the village.
Because of the pitcher’s cracks, the flowers and vegetables were watered; thus, it was fulfilling its purpose of providing water, not to the man’s household for drinking, but to the flowers and vegetables along the road which provided beauty and food for the man’s home. The man said, “We all, at some point, grow old and acquire other qualities, and these can always be turned to good advantage.”

Paul knew the Corinthian church was like the newer immature pitcher. As I imagine the newer immature pitcher questioned the work of the older cracked pitcher, the Corinthians questioned Paul’s work and authority. Because, they didn’t understand, they were jealous and quarrelsome. Paul and Apollos had the task of sowing and watering the seed of faith among the Corinthians. Unlike the cracked pitcher, Paul and Apollos knew their work and knew God was using their weakness to do this work.

Questions for reflection:
How is God using your weakness to fulfill your Divine purpose? As mature Christians, what are you sowing and watering?

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