What did you have that you did not receive?

The apostle Paul, in writing to the Christians in the city of Corinth, said, " For what makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1Corinthians 4:7).

When I look back at what the Lord did in my life, I cannot help but say that only recently could I perceive my life as one big jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces fit together and there is a picture but the picture is part of a bigger and better picture, which I will only be able to see many years down the road. Certainly I can agree with Paul that my life has been received - I did not earn it neither did I inherit it. And each day, we are all receiving more and more of it until the day we depart from this world either through death or, if Jesus were to return before our time is up, taken up to Heaven to meet Him there.

As a young pre-schooler, I attended Sunday School on Christmas Island - a good two years until my parents stopped me from going because they wanted their youngest to be at home on weekends (to do what, I don't know). The stories I heard were imprinted on my mind and I could not make anything out of them. Meanwhile, every festival time, I would follow my mother to the temple and I remembered that I used to kneel and pray before the altar table in the Taoist temple on the island and asking for favors but each time not seeming to get any replies. For a few years this went on but deep down I felt empty. Indeed, how could a block of wood grant me my wishes?

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7 " For what makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1Corinthians 4:7) NKJV

Patience


1 "Therefore, since we
are surrounded by such
a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw
off everything that
hinders and the sin that
so easily entangles, and
let us run with
perseverance the race
marked out for us."
Heb 12:1 NIV

8 "You too, be patient
and stand firm, because
the Lord's coming is near"
James 5:8 NIV

THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "BIBLE"

The word "Bible" does not occur in the Holy Scriptures. The English word "Bible" is a manufactured, made-up word. Its origin is in the Greek word for the papyrus (pa-Pie-rus) plant that the Egyptians used to make paper. The Greeks called the plant biblos and eventually writing products derived from the plant such as scrolls became known as biblos. There is even an ancient Phoenician city named "Byblos" whose name is derived from its extensive manufacturer and trade in writing materials. To invent the word Bible, scholars borrowed the plural Greek word "biblia" meaning scrolls, or "little books" and created the English word Bible.
The Greeks still use the term biblos today. During a trip through customs at the Athens airport in Greece the author had to register some ancient pottery he was transporting from Israel to a museum in the U.S.A. Sitting in a little side office in the airport the customs officer reached over to a stack of record books which he had hand labeled Biblos and entered the pertinent information.
Additionally, among the terms employed by the sacred writers to designate the collection of books which we call "the Bible" are these: The Scriptures, The Holy Scriptures; The Word; The Word of Truth; The Law and the Prophets; The Old and New Testaments. During the time it took to write the books of the Bible, probably over 1200 years, the writings were circulated individually or in groups. It was not until the 4th century A.D. that the books were all put in a single volume