“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:” 1 Corinthians 1:2 NIV
Reflection: what is your calling from God?
If you do a quick search on “what is the purpose of wisdom teeth”, you will find an overwhelming amount of information that these teeth must be removed. And most of the arguments for removal starts with that these teeth are basically for pre-historic, from ancestral humans and not needed for modern man. So, removal of the wisdom teeth is a common practice without any real debate. Sort of “settled science”; a term we have heard before. I, for one, didn’t really question such settled science, until more recently.
As a Christian, and a believer in the Creation, we should wonder how could God make such a colossal mistake, adding teeth we don’t need. And when you dig a bit deeper, you do find a few that are saying, “wait a minute”. That have ideas of important purposes of the wisdom teeth, but recognize that we might not fully understand. Again, it is hard to image that with such an amazing design of (the rest of) our bodies, that this was an oversight by God. Perhaps it is as simple as an industry that has profited on the simple removal of the wisdom teeth. But don’t you find it a bit strange that these teeth are referred to as “wisdom”, with such a focus on removing them?
Removing wisdom?
In his opening letter to the church in Corinth, Paul starts by stating his own calling as an apostle; “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,” 1 Corinthians 1:1 NIV. Notice that he states that this is the will of God for him. Paul, of course, had a very unique calling, as Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). But in our focus verse today, we see that Paul tells the church of God in Corinth, of their calling, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and
called to be his holy people”
And this was not just to the Christians in Corinth. Paul continues “together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:” That means, the calling to be God’s holy people is for all Christians, “those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord” This is the highest and the first calling, or purpose, for all God’s children.
A holy people,
Purified in Christ for God. For His will to be done here on earth. This sounds impossible, as we know ourselves and our flesh. Holiness is not trying to do better in the flesh. It is actually doing less in the flesh and more in the spirit. Living a life governed by the spirit. “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6 NIV.
That is God’s will for us.
So how can we know we are doing the will of God? Paul wrote “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 NIV. And John wrote “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”1 John 2:15-17 NIV
Thinking of all the church members who faithfully come to a church service every Sunday, sitting in the pews listening to the pastor preach and the choir sing, not considering much their own calling. Thinking they are just faithful “church goers”, nothing more. Not realizing they are a critical part of the body of Christ. Perhaps not fully understood or even fully utilized.
Almost like wisdom teeth.