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This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
1 Corinthians 2:12 – Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “Oh, she’s so Type A,” or, “That’s just how he is—he’s an A-Type.” Type A people are said to have a “take-charge” personality. They’re ambitious, success oriented, assertive. The A-Type says, “Give me something I can fix.” In some ways, U.S. American culture, with its emphasis on self-improvement, pushes everyone to be a little more A-Type. Do you feel the pressure to always be working, growing, improving, always trying to fix something? You’re supposed to fix up your house. Fix your health. Fix your finances. Fix your kids. Fix your spouse. Fix thyself. And if you can’t fix it, then you’re probably just Type B, so just forget about it. Watch some more TV. Roll over. Take a nap. That pretty well captures our prevailing cultural wisdom: either fix it, or forget about it.
On The Lutheran Hour this season, we’ve been listening to excerpts from the First Letter to the Corinthians. Ancient Corinth’s culture, like ours, was Type A. Corinth was a Roman Empire colony. And colonies of the empire were supposed to fix things—to bring order, peace, and prosperity to the conquered lands they’d taken from their neighbors. People who lived in Corinth felt the pressure: either you compete, or roll over. Get-er-dun, or get out of the way. Fight to be first, or take your place in line with the rest of the losers. And this wisdom, so-called, was seeping into the Christian community at Corinth, foisting a false dichotomy on them, and distorting their view of reality.
So, Paul, who helped start their church community, wrote them a letter. He wanted them to see past the accepted “wisdom of the age.” There’s another option beyond A-Type or B-Type. There’s a C-Type, a Christ-Type. Which means, Christians don’t have to fit into this dichotomy anymore. We don’t have to choose between either “scheme for power” or “be sedated by circuses.” No, Christians don’t follow the wisdom of the world, because we follow Jesus. Together, we have the mind of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). We are Type C.
When Jesus came to live among us, He didn’t accept that false dichotomy, that either you must force your fix on the world, or else forget about it. And His one-of-kind way of life meant that He would be rejected, stepped on, bullied, and crucified by powerful A-Types, while the B-Types rolled over (see 1 Corinthians 2:8). This proved to be God’s plan all along: that Christ would die for us, not to force a fix on us, but to embrace us, to embrace you right where you’re at. Jesus embraced you in His death on the cross, but He does not leave you in your distorted reality. He didn’t roll over for us. He resurrected for us—rose from the dead so that He could meet you—a one-of-kind beloved child of God—so that He could lead you to live like Him, to love God and love neighbors in ways that cannot be confined by the world’s classifications.
WE PRAY: Holy Spirit, show us how much we are loved by the Father so that we would have the mind of Christ. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- Where would people place you on the Type A/Type B continuum? Why?
- Does our culture pressure us to be more Type A? If so, how?
- How does Paul advocate a different sort of wisdom? (Read 1 Corinthians 1-2.)
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