The Chameleon

Chameleons are reptiles that can change color to adapt to their environment. If they are on a blade of grass, they will be the same color as the grass to blend in. Chameleons are able to adapt to the situations they face and they can blend in and "fade away" so as to look absent. How are born-again believers to live in an environment of so much evil? The easiest thing to do would be to "blend in" to our surroundings and take on the color of the evil around us so we fit in. The believers in the church at Corinth had to make a decision of whether to blend in with the corruption they were living in or take a stand for Christ. Paul dealt with their problems and challenged them to stand strong in their new life.

This church had divisions because of their lack of following God's word and their "blending in" had watered down what should have been happening in their fellowship. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul addressed the problem of their disunity by hitting it head on. 1 Corinthians 1: 18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise    and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” 20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Like our country, they began to blend into the society they lived in and instead of the light exposing the darkness they allowed the darkness to grow in their lives and the result was disastrous. Paul was reminding them that the worldly way of thinking was fruitless and wrong. The world in that day thought the believers were foolish idiots, so some of those believers began to become Chameleons and hid in that godless society. Human wisdom will always fall short of the Holy Spirit's direction and believers must never follow that way of thinking or living. NEVER!! The believers in the church began to worship people instead of God and Paul shared that Christ is not divided, so don't worship a human leader, but worship the God of the leader.

Some of the ills of our modern-day church in America would be cured by God's people getting into the Word of God and living that Word to the max. If that would happen we would see our world differently and Jesus would be so real to us, we would have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But people who aren’t spiritual[g] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?    Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

We need the "mind of Christ" and more of that and less of the worldly way of thinking would cause great change and the power of the gospel would once again be very evident in believer's thinking. We can learn a lot from the church in Corinth and Paul's wisdom and it can be a good direction for us to head in. Christians are not called to be Chameleons and just blend in. Stand in the wisdom of God's word and in the power of His resurrection and never compromise just to blend in.

Vesselogical Out,

David Warren