All Things Right

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 KJV

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

There is a reason a Christian should suffer himself to be wronged rather than to take a dispute before the law of this world; it is this, that those unbelievers shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This one fact so separates the Christian from the world that we ought to suffer any indignity rather than to present a poor testimony before the lost.

It is true enough that Christians still wrestle with a sinful flesh and because of that we will have faults between one another. Paul's answer is, I think, three fold:

            We ought to judge ourselves

            We ought to suffer a fault and forgive it when possible

            We ought to wave our right of liberty for the good of the whole

We ought to remember that we are not our own; we have been bought and our liberty as individuals is bound up in the liberty of Jesus Christ. We can suffer ourselves to be defrauded and forgive those who have defrauded us because we know we have been forgiven ourselves and because we know God is righteous and will make all things right in the end.