My dad gave me a business card one day that read. “If you meet me and forget who I am, you have lost nothing. If you meet Jesus Christ and forget who He is, you have lost everything.” I found that card, the other day, tucked away in a keepsakes box. I remember, as a child, feeling the weight of that truthful declaration as I read it over and over.
My father lived his life believing that statement. Many who knew him would agree that he didn’t care what their opinion of him was, but he would tell everyone he met about God and challenge them to serve him more.
Thinking back on that reminds me of our passage today. In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul says, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”
Paul did not regard himself as anything special; he did not care what others thought of him, or what his opinion of himself was. All Paul concerned himself with was preaching Jesus Christ to the lost world.
That statement is terrifying and freeing. I want so badly desire to live my life caring only what God thinks of me. That requires that I not only stop caring what others think of me, but that I get out of my own head and focus totally on Christ.
Let's pray today that God will show us how to live a totally Christ focused life.
Read today's passage at Biblegateway 1 Corinthians 4:1-7
1 comment:
I happened upon the above mediation and just want to say "Amen!" Open our eyes Lord to see YOU today so that, as the hymn writer put it: "the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of [Your] glory and grace". Paul D. Bramsen www.One-God-One-Message.com
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