“Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” (I Corinthians 6:7)

Paul wrote these questions in light of lawsuits that Corinthian believers were bringing against each other. He wrote to them that this was a shame to their Christian witness, as church member faced off with church member in court — “and that before unbelievers.” Because of the damage this was doing to their public witness, Paul asked the questions: “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?”

We should ponder those same questions. Why do we contend and quarrel about things with other believers, which casts a poor shadow on our witness for Christ in our own community?  The answer is because we are too worldly minded. We think we just can’t let somebody get away with something, or “we have to get what is coming to us” — while the truth is, that thing is more important to us than the witness of our church, or the work of the Kingdom. If that sounds harsh, it is the truth. By not letting those things go for the sake of the glory of God in our community we demonstrate what our real priorities are.  If we were really Kingdom-minded, then like Paul said, we would “rather be wronged” than cause a public scandal that would hurt the church and the Kingdom witness.

“Why not rather be wronged?” I think we know the answer: because we are often too selfish to be that Kingdom-minded.