Incredibly, we're a full month into 2020. 

Of course, we know rationally that time doesn't pass "slowly" or "quickly".  Each minute has 60 seconds, each hour has 60 minutes, and each day has 24 hours.  Those numbers never change.  At the same time, however, emotionally or spiritually, the passage of time can surprise us.  We are all either wishing time would speed up so we can arrive at a long-awaited goal (Graduation? Vacation?), or wanting time to slow down so we can catch up with parts of our lives that we feel we're missing out on (Sleep? Relationships?).

One month ago, we were studying chapter 9 of First Corinthians in our series called A Better Way.  That morning, I spoke about choices. The Apostle Paul placed an incredibly high value on followers of Jesus making choices that would benefit the faith of others.  Paul knew that our decision-making can result in life or death for those around us, and so he encouraged the Corinthians to decide to place others first for the sake of the Gospel.  This meant that the Corinthians should lay down their rights and freedoms if doing so would help someone place faith in Jesus and receive eternal life.  Our takeaway that morning was to decide not to hinder Gospel ministry by pursuing our freedoms.

This week we will finish our study of 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul provides us with another opportunity to consider how our choices are impacting our world.  How many choices did you make in January?  How do you feel about those choices? Is change necessary to help your own personal discipleship?  Is change necessary to help others in your life find Jesus?  Let's take some time to tackle these questions together.