Fighting Over the Smallest Matters – 1 Corinthians 6
‘Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?’ — 1 Corinthians 6:2
People don’t normally take someone to court over something they view as small. Yet, when Paul rebukes the Corinthians for taking each other to court, he calls the cause of their lawsuits ‘the smallest matters’.
He then says that if they will judge angels one day, the ‘least esteemed in the church’ could surely judge between two Christians (v.4). It would be better to just be wronged by another brother than to hurt the gospel by going to court before unbelievers (v.7).
God’s attitude toward their perceived ‘wrongs’ and ‘hurts’ should put our own into perspective. The things that seem so big and so bothersome in this world are usually not such a big deal. We get our feelings hurt. We get mistreated. We are wronged by another Christian. And we make such a big deal out of it.
But these are all very small matters. They are not as big as the glory of God and the gospel of Christ. May God help us to see how small our small frustrations and arguments are in the grand scheme of things and not allow them to bring dishonour to the Lord and His gospel.