Saturday, December 13, 2008
2 Corinthians 10:13-15a We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others . . .
BOAST, BUT BOAST IN THE LORD
Some might have called Paul a braggart, but the fact of the matter was, Paul was the one who had originally brought the Good News of Christ to the city of Corinth. This was work that Jesus had given him to do. He had gone and done it. He wasn't taking credit for someone else's mission work.
Paul says, "Don't brag about work not GIVEN TO YOU, not COMPLETED, and not done by YOU."
But don't get the wrong idea. Paul wasn't seeking credit for himself. Listen to Paul's own words in his first letter to the Corinthians: "For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them -- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed" (1 Corinthians 5:9-11).
This is true Christian humility. To acknowledge hard work, but to remember it is God's hand that enables any success in His service.
In Christ we have approval before God's throne. We are declared righteous because of Jesus' blood. Through Christ our work in God's service is also approved. Imperfect and clumsy as it is, the Master makes it sufficient to accomplish His purpose.
