1 Corinthians – Chapter 4

For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 1 Corinthians 4:7 – Paul was having to do some serious correcting within the hearts of those in the Corinthian church. While we see division was taking place in the church within the previous chapter, now Paul is addressing the pride in their hearts. Something that was being made clear to Paul was many of the Corinthian Christians were looking down on Paul’s lowly life. They were wealthy, well respected, and had power in the city, but Paul was homeless, reviled, and poor. As a result, the Corinthian church began to cast judgement on Paul and the other followers of Jesus, even the other Apostles, who weren’t as well off as them. So Paul asked them this series of questions. What is so different about you? What do you possess that God didn’t first give you? If God gave all you have, why are you boasting in it like you earned it yourself? This would have been a humble set of questions for the church in Corinth, and it’s also a set that can be healthy for us to ask of ourselves. What do we have in our life that God didn’t first give us and allow us to have? Life, breath, family, our jobs, our talents, our knowledge, health, and every possession we have was given to us by the Lord. Why then would we ever take pride that we have certain things that other’s don’t when everything we have was given by the Lord to begin with and we didn’t earn it? When we start to elevate ourselves above others and look down on them, let’s remember how at the foot of the cross we all are on level ground. The only one that ought to be high and lifted up in this life is Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3111

When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure (v.12b) These two attributes set apart clearly the true followers of Christ and those who simply carry this name Christian (and there is a distinction between the two). The heart of one who is following the lead of Christ, when reviled – hated, loathed, despised – reacts in the opposite manner than how they were treated. To be able to respond to hate with such true love and forgiveness only comes from a heart that is being continually transformed by Jesus. Also when persecuted and pushed to the point that anyone else would give in and give up, what keeps a person standing firm and enduring? An understanding that their life is held together and directed by the orchestrator of everything. If He on our side, what persecution has the power to overcome the power of our God? For a Christian who is just in name alone, that support to bless and endure is so often not taken advantage of. When your life isn’t about following Him with your every day life, why would you expect Him to be your filter on how to follow Him in these sorts of situations? It’s those who are truly seeking Him in the everyday that will seek Him in the persecution. It’s too easy to fall back on the worldly reactions to persecution, to respond back in hate and give up in these times. Only a habitual life of following Him will lead you to following His lead even in the rough times. As a true follower, we are called to live differently. What gives us the strength to live that different life is relying on something different than what the rest of the world relies on. – Daily DEVO 7

I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 1 Corinthians 4:16-17 – Does this idea intimidate you? This idea of having people look at your life and imitate it. Like how you worship at church or how you treat your spouse or what you do when no one is around. Would you be fine with them imitating certain areas yet not others? Why is that? What’s the difference between certain areas and others in your life? Let’s begin to ask that question of ourselves, why is it that certain areas of our life we’d prefer if people didn’t imitate them. Most often the answer is those areas aren’t leading us closer to Christ and leave a poor witness and we’d rather that not be the path for someone else. I’ll just leave you with this, remember people are watching your life. They are seeing how you react, speak, and live and are learning about Jesus every time they see you. Just be aware that you can’t always control which sides of you they see. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 706

For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15 – I’m not sure how much this devotion will impact the story of others, but I write these first anyways for myself then I simply share them with the hopes someone else can be encouraged in their walk. Many of you know my story and know we are in this adoption process. I’ll be real with you and say I’ve struggled acknowledging and accepting this title of “father.” I just haven’t fully settled in what that all looks like for this unique situation God has placed me in. Our passage this morning framed for me once again my true role in this whole adoption, to not just be a guide pointing to Jesus but someone who is close to them setting a daily example of what a follower of Jesus looks like that they can base their walk off of. I’m a “guide” for others for sure like the people at my church or even here on social media. But my role is different for the ones in my home. Know your role is different too with the people God has brought into your family. This isn’t to diminish our role in the lives of those outside our family but it does elevate our responsibilities with those in our family. You’ve been placed in your family for the reason of guiding, pointing, walking with, taking with, living with them so they can come to know Jesus as deeply as they can. You have a unique role that no one else has in another’s life if you carry a title like mom, dad, husband, or wife. Use that unique position to uniquely point people to Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1771