Monday, February 2, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Corinthians 10-11
Key Verse
1 Corinthians 11:1 — “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
Devotional Thought
Paul begins this passage by reaching back to Israel’s wilderness years, and he does it for a reason: the Corinthians were confident, gifted, and dangerously self-assured. They had been baptized, they ate spiritual meat and drank from the Rock that was Christ, and yet Paul reminds them that many of those same Israelites were overthrown in the wilderness. Their privileges did not exempt them from temptation, nor did their history protect them from falling. The warning is plain: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” That word lands on us too, especially when we have walked with Christ long enough to grow comfortable. Familiarity with holy things can quietly become presumption.
But Paul does not leave us in fear. Right beside the warning stands the promise: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape.” The same chapter that says “flee from idolatry” also says “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Christian liberty is real, but it is never self-serving. “All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” Paul calls us to weigh our freedoms against the conscience of a brother, to seek another’s good rather than our own, and to do everything—eating, drinking, all of it—to the glory of God.
Then he turns to the table. The cup of blessing is the communion of the blood of Christ; the bread we break is the communion of His body. We cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. This is not superstition; it is covenant. And because it is covenant, Paul insists that we come to the Lord’s Supper with reverence and self-examination. The Corinthians were turning the supper into a common meal, some hungry, some drunken, shaming those who had nothing. Paul says such eating and drinking brings judgment, not because the bread is magic, but because they failed to discern the Lord’s body—the church itself, gathered as one.
So he gives us the words we still repeat: “This do in remembrance of me.” As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we show the Lord’s death till He comes. And He is coming. In this ordinary season, with its ordinary routines, we are called to examine ourselves, to wait for one another, and to remember that the One who spread this table is faithful—even when we are weak.
Reflection
- Where in your life have you grown so confident in your standing that you have stopped taking heed, and what would repentance look like there today?
- When you come to the Lord’s table, are you discerning His body—both His sacrifice and His gathered people—or are you simply going through the motions?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we come to You as those who have eaten spiritual meat and drunk from the Rock, and yet we confess that we have not always lived as Your redeemed people. Forgive our presumption, our murmuring, and our careless approach to Your table. Teach us to examine ourselves honestly, to flee idolatry, and to seek the good of others above our own. Thank You that You are faithful, that You never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, and that You always provide a way of escape. As we eat this bread and drink this cup, help us to show Your death until You come, to Your glory alone. Amen.