Tag: boast

Categories
Philippians Devotionals

The grace of ministry

PhilippiansHope

When I was reading Philippians 1 this week, it struck me that Paul saw ministry as a grace he received.

He said, “you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:7)

For him, to spread the gospel to the Gentiles was a grace received from God. To do ministry in his own prison, that was grace from God too. And by the Philippians supporting him financially, they were participating in God’s grace of ministry.

How often do we see ministry as a gift from God? We usually see it as service. As something we do for God.

But when we see it that way, it’s easy to start becoming proud. “Look at what I’m doing for God!”

But ministry is a grace we receive from God. We don’t deserve to be used by God. We’re sinners. We fail. We make mistakes. And yet God in his grace says, “Won’t you join me in my work.”

He didn’t have to use us. He didn’t have to give us spiritual gifts so we could serve. But in his grace, he lets us join him in his work.

How about you? Do you stand in wonder that God lets you join in his kingdom work? Or do you somehow think it’s something to brag about?

Categories
2 Corinthians Devotionals

Who we are pointing to

2 Corinthians

It’s so easy to compare ourselves with others. I do it all the time.

We say things like:

“I read my Bible every day.”

“I pray.”

“I fast.”

“I tithe.”

“I sacrifice for the church.”

And then we look at others and ask, “What are you doing?”

But to compare ourselves with others, Paul says, is to lack understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

What are we not understanding?

That each and every one of us stands on God’s grace alone.

Of course it’s good to read your Bible, pray, fast, and all the rest. But notice the first word of all those sentences: “I.”

And our salvation, our Christian lives, rest on what Jesus did, not what we do.

When you talk with others, who do you point to?

Yourself?

Or Jesus?

Do you point to what you do?

Or what he did on the cross, and the grace he pours on you each day?

If you’re boasting about yourself, you’re no longer living by grace. And you’re no longer standing in awe of Jesus and his cross.

So let’s stop looking at ourselves and comparing ourselves with others. Instead, “let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (17)

Categories
Galatians Devotionals

Remembering grace

Galatians

In the first part of this chapter, Paul tells us that when others are caught in sin, we are to restore them with gentleness.

So many times, however, this is simply not done. Instead, often times, Christians do this with a spirit of condescension. Why is that?

I think a lot of it is due to the fact that we forget that we too stand by grace alone. And because we forget that, we get caught up in comparing ourselves with others.

You see this at the tail end of chapter 5, Paul told the Galatians,

 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:26)

When we are conceited, we inevitably compare ourselves with others.

In some cases that leads us to provoke others by our pride because we see ourselves as better than them. In other cases, we envy them because they have what we don’t.

Either way, when they fall, it gives us the chance to knock them down a peg. But that is not the spirit we should have.

We need to remember that we are all really nothing apart from Christ. All we are, all we have, is by his grace. And Paul says that if we forget that, we deceive ourselves. (Galatians 6:3)

So grace doesn’t rejoice when others stumble because it somehow makes us look better. Rather, it causes us to look with compassion on the one who falls, and to want to help them out from under their burden of sin.

Grace reminds us that we are judged not on a sliding scale based on how others perform. Rather, we are judged on God’s scale. And we are called to account for our own load of sin, regardless of how others “perform.”

All this leads to humility and gratefulness at the grace we have received, so that we don’t boast in ourselves, but in the cross of Christ and what he has done.

Grace also reminds us that none of our value comes from what we do, even in ministry. One of the reasons that the Jewish Christians wanted to get the Gentiles circumcised was so they could boast about what they had done among the Gentiles.

How many Christians get their value from their ministry? And because of this, they are always pointing at the people they have converted or discipled, and all the other things they do for Christ.

But Paul says,

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Galatians 6:14)

Important as ministry is, it is not where our worth comes from. We stand, not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has done. And so Paul says,

 For both circumcision and uncircumcision (nor any other things you might boast about) mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. (Galatians 6:15)

And becoming a new creation is not something we did. It’s what God did.

So let us boast not in what we do, or who we are. Rather, each day let us boast in who Jesus is and what he has done.

Categories
2 Corinthians

How we evaluate ourselves. How we evaluate others.

2 Corinthians

In this passage, Paul is still dealing with the Corinthians and their attitudes of disdain towards him. Not all of them felt this way, but enough did that Paul felt the need to defend himself.

And as we look at these verses, we see how we should evaluate others and ourselves.

When the Corinthians looked at Paul, they merely looked at the outside. And Paul was apparently a man who was not terribly impressive, in presence or in speech. Some were saying of him,

His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing. (2 Corinthians 10:10)

But Paul told them, “You are only looking on the surface of things.” (2 Corinthians 10:7)

Paul was every much of a Christian and minister than anyone the Corinthians could compare him to, but because they were focused on his appearance and speech, there were a number of them that simply couldn’t recognize that.

They instead looked down on him, despising him for his apparent weaknesses. So Paul warned them,

Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. (2 Corinthians 10:11)

In other words, “We are not all talk. We live what we say. And we will act on our words when we see you again if you don’t repent of your attitude.”

So as we look at others, we need to be careful to look beyond the surface.

People can be a lot more than they seem, and with the power of God working in them, can do much more than we might expect.

But if we are busy judging them and despising them for their supposed weaknesses, not only will we misjudge them, but we’ll end up despising people God has created in his own image and for his own purposes.

And God does not take that kind of attitude from us lightly.

But as we look at this, we can also see how we should evaluate ourselves. Paul wrote of some of his critics,

When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

In short, it’s pure foolishness to measure yourself by other people and compare yourself with them.

Why? Because the standard that we are measured by is God’s standard, not human standards. And when we measure ourselves by human standards, we grossly miss the mark God intends us to reach.

It’s also foolish to boast about something when you have no real right to do so.

It’s bad enough to be overly proud about what you have done. But when you start boasting about what others have done and taking credit for it, that’s even worse. But Paul never did that. (2 Corinthians 10:13-16)

Paul then tells us what we should boast about,

Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. (2 Corinthians 10:17)

What does that mean? The Lord said through Jeremiah in the Old Testament,

But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD… (Jeremiah 9:24)

In other words, our focus shouldn’t be on ourselves and what we’ve done. Rather, our focus should be on God, and knowing him better.

The person who truly knows God truly has something to boast about because their focus is on the right place, and they’re no longer trying to please others, but God.

And in that is wisdom, for Paul tells us in verse 18,

It is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians 10:18)

How about you? How do you evaluate others? Do you evaluate them by mere appearances?

And how do you evaluate yourself? By comparing yourself with others? By measuring yourself through human standards. Or by the Lord’s?