Uche Aligwekwe I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
1 Corinthians 1:10
Confession
I endeavour to live in harmony with my brothers and sisters in my local church and with other Christians within the Body of Christ at large. I do not walk in division from them. Rather I am of one mind with them, united in thought and purpose
We appeal gently when evil things are said about us…
Love is always the right tool to use whatever the situation or circumstance.
1 Corinthians 4:13
Confession
I appeal gently when evil things are said about me
When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers!
Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves?
Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.
If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church?
I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues?
But instead, one believer* sues another—right in front of unbelievers!
Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?
Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.
1 Corinthians 6:1 – 8
Confession
I will never charge another believer to court, and certainly not to secular courts. Instead, if at all there is any dispute between myself and another Christian I will either take it before another or other believers or I will just accept the injustice and leave it at that. I rather let myself be cheated.
So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against* the body and blood of the Lord.
That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,* you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.
That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.
Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
1 Corinthians 11:27 – 32
Confession
I discern the Lord’s body, in the breaking of bread in Holy Communion and in my daily love walk towards other believers, the Body of Christ. I examine and correct and repent and judge myself of any sin in this regard. As a result, I remain strong and healthy and will enjoy a long healthy life.
So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 12:23 – 13:13
Confession
Love’s way is the best way of life of all
My love walk is more important to me than spiritual gifts. My gifts are only effective as they are exercised in love. My worth is defined in the degree to which I walk in love and not in terms of my spiritual gifts, my knowledge and understanding of the mysteries of God or in the amount of faith I have.
My acts of sacrifice only bring me progress and maturity in the faith if they are motivated by love.
I am patient and kind. I am not jealous, boastful, proud or rude. I am not selfish or irritable. I keep no record of a suffered wrong. I rejoice whenever the truth wins out. I never give up, never lose faith, I am always hopeful, I endure through every circumstance.
Love never fails. Love never goes out of fashion. Love will last forever. As I walk in love I will never fail either. I cannot fail. Love guarantees my success whereas spiritual gifts can’t.
Spiritual gifts will pass away but love won’t. In any case spiritual gifts are limited and partial in operation and manifestation. For instance both the gifts of prophecy and of special knowledge only bring partial revelation and not the whole. When full knowledge and the consummation of all prophecy comes these limited, partial gifts obsolete. Love on the other hand is eternal and will never pass away.
Spiritual gifts in themselves will not achieve that overall goal of love. They are limited, temporary.
Love is always the right tool to use whatever the situation or circumstance. One way or the other love always wins out. Love is eternal but prophecies, tongues and knowledge are temporal. Knowledge and prophecies are limited, love is unlimited. Speaking, thinking and understanding love is true maturity, focusing merely on spiritual gifts is childhood. As I focus on love I begin to ‘see’ more clearly; as I focus on love my ‘knowledge’ becomes more complete and experiential rather than merely limited and academic and I begin to experience true fellowship with God, knowing Him and being known. Out of these three remaining virtues, faith, hope and love, love is the greatest.
Let love be your highest goal!
1 Corinthians 14:1
Confession
Love is my aim, my highest goal. I follow after it, I pursue it; it is my great quest! Love is the hand that wields my spiritual gifts such that I only exercise my gifts as love determines and desires for the edification of others.
And do everything with love.
1 Corinthians 16:14
Confession
I do everything with love
…Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
2 Corinthians 5:14 – 15
Confession
Christ’s love controls me. I am love-controlled, love-moved, love impelled. I am constrained by love, urged on, compelled by the love of God to serve God and to serve His people.
1 Corinthians 5:14
I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.
2 Corinthians 12:15
Confession
My love doesn’t diminish the more I give, the more sacrificially I give of myself, rather it grows. I will very gladly spend and be spent for those God has connected me to; even if the more abundantly I love them, the less they love me in return.
