Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 4:8-21 before reading the devotional below.
The Bible claims to be the inspired word of God, written for our instruction and learning. We have to keep that in mind as we read today’s passage because Paul seems quite upset. We might view his writing to the Corinthians as self-centered or having an ax to grind. Why would God inspire him to write these words? What are we to learn here?
We don’t know the entire situation, but so far Paul has made a lot of points about human leaders. In previous sections, he has made sure they know that it all comes back to Jesus, not Paul or Apollos or anyone else. Here he is pointing out that they see to be forgetting the significance of the work he had done with them. When we take for granted a gift God has given us, pride is often a result.
Here’s your freedom for today:
The Gospel isn’t about a “feel good” experience.
Paul lived a life of sacrifice. The apostles were ridiculed and persecuted, and many of them died as martyrs. (Some have claimed that Peter died by crucifixion, hung upside-down on a cross.) These Corinthian believers were becoming prideful, minimizing the gift God had given them in their beginnings with the apostle Paul. They were riding high on their spiritual lives, when they were not enduring even close to the sacrifice Paul and the other apostles were enduring. There was something empty about some of the leaders and preachers rising up among them. Paul knew more than anyone that the Gospel was not about a “feel good” experience. They were engaged in a spiritual war with real casualties and prisoners. Paul risked his life daily. Does your life sound more like the Corinthians or like Paul’s? How can you maintain a humility about your faith and avoid thinking you are better than you are?