But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)
| Law of
Diminishing Returns? by Cathy Vinson |
"He
PLACED His love upon the altar." In that same spirit, Paul walked as a servant of
Christ. He did not force himself or become a burden to the ones he loved. He preferred
great sacrifice to himself than to overstep the purity of Christ within him. He would not
push his rights. Many of his contemporaries did otherwise. What then did Paul discover? The very church he made himself of least burden to esteemed him the LEAST. The Corinthians of all churches seemed to believe his apostleship less credible, certainly beneath the other apostles. Paul saw he had done a possible disservice to this church. By making himself of no burden, smallness had resulted in their thinking. His ministry of the Gospel had not COST them; they likewise did not receive him as fully. Why as humans do we ascribe less acclaim to that which does not cost us? That tendency cannot grasp God's love, which by His choice came to us freely with only RECEPTION required. Can't we receive a free gift and then give back WORTH in ourselves?
Let's resist this neurosis. In response to GOD'S kind of free gift, let us avoid our inclination to exhonorate those who exploit us. Let's make every effort to esteem and willingly give ourselves to those who lay their servanthood at our feet and for Christ's sake make themselves of least burden. |
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| "If
I love more, will you love me less. " (1 Cor 12:15) |
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