God’s Creative Farming
Have you over-identified with any spiritual or religious labels, teachers or doctrines?
1 Corinthians 3:5-9, The Inclusive Bible
After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? They are ministers through whom you came to believe. Even the different ways in which they brought the Gospel were assigned to them by God. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God caused the growth. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters—only God, who makes things grow. It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering; and all will be duly paid according to their share in the work. We are coworkers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.
How skilled is the human species at “othering” each other?
Finding labels and divisions and ways to identify ourselves as other than the humans we share planet earth with. The reality is, we’re very skilled at it. It’s a strange and counter-intuitive survival mechanism that leads to destructive behavior. This letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth highlights that tendency.
The apostle is calling out the church for these othering viewpoints as infantile, and immature. At the end of the day, it’s not about who discipled us, taught us, which version we do or don’t belong to, it’s about the God who is planting, watering, nurturing and blossoming the fruit of God’s ‘one purpose’: love flourishing in creation. The field is God’s to farm; we are the field hands.
Let’s get to work. How do you want to contribute to God’s creative farming today?
Have you over-identified with any spiritual or religious labels, teachers or doctrines? How do you want to contribute to God’s growing love being able to flourish around you?