...who am I in Christ?

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! "9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day” 1 Corinthians 4:8-13.

Here Paul reminds us that being Christian will never be a popular life in our world. And then Paul tells us that apostles must be held to a higher standard than Christians. Paul says this: "9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you (Christians) are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.”

But here is the question we must ask: If Paul needed to make this point to the Christians in Corinth, what would Paul say to comfortable Western Christianity today? What would Paul say to you and to me?

So how about it! When you look in the mirror, who do you see? Do you see in yourself someone who, when reviled by others, you bless; when you are persecuted, do you endure; 13 when slandered, do you speak kindly? Have you become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day? Just what kind of a Christian have you and I become? Are we well taken care of, focusing on ourselves? Are we living as very polite Christians, weaving quietly in and out of the traffic of the world in which we live? Have we ever seen ourselves as Paul thinks we should see ourselves, as “the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day” (see verse 13)?

So, today, take a long look in the mirror? Who do you see?

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Today’s Prayer

Oh Lord, I am not happy with what I see in the mirror.

Help me be honest with who I am.

Help me to change.

Oh Lord, I need You, Oh I need You.

I don’t see myself as 13 “the rubbish of the world,

the dregs of all things, to this very day.”

I don’t see myself as “11 hungry and thirsty…poorly clothed and beaten…

and homeless, 12 …growing weary from the work of our own hands.”

Have mercy on me, a sinner, and bring me back home.

This I pray through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.