We typically find what we are looking for.

If you go to the internet expecting to see more stories about political infighting and scandal - you will find it.

If you go to the internet expecting to see more cute cat videos - you will find them.

If you go to a Sunday morning worship service expecting to see a room full of dishonest hypocrites - you will find it.

If you go to a Sunday morning worship service expecting to see a room full of saints - you will also find that.

We typically find what we are looking for.

Maybe it is more accurate to say that we typically SEE what we are looking for.  This is true of all of us because we will typically keep looking until we see what we expected to see.

This reality within the human experience is sometimes called “confirmation bias” or “self-fulfilling prophecy” and it is a powerful tool.  Whether this tool is powerful for good or for evil depends on how it is wielded.

In the opening words of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the church in Corinth as the saints of God who have been sanctified through Jesus Christ (my paraphrase).  This is a letter that is written to a church that has officially gone off the rails!  In his opening words, he does not address the scandal, the divisions, and factions, the immorality, or the misuse of the Lord’s Supper.  No - in his opening words, he speaks to them a self-fulfilling prophecy, and he reminds them of their true identity:  The saints of God - Sanctified through Jesus Christ.

Paul addresses the error of their ways later in the correspondence, but the first words they heard from him on that day were words of grace and a reminder of their identity.

He was reminding them of what he was expecting to see.

He was reminding them of who they REALLY are.

Maybe this is what you need to hear right now.  Maybe you are like the people at the church in Corinth and you have gone completely off the rails and you think that all God sees in you is your sin and the mistakes that you have made.

This is grace - God sees you first as His dearly loved child.

And just like a really great dad, He will work out the rest as you go from here.

Grace and Peace,

Jon Croft