SCRIPTURE: 1Corinthians (NIV) 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
OBSERVATION: These are good questions for people who think they are better than others. For people who think they have arrived at their status in life by their own skills.
Who made each of us different from everyone else? No one other than God. What do we have that we did not receive? Nothing. Either we received it as a gift, or we received the skills to gain what we have. So, what reason do we have for boasting? None.
APPLICATION: They are good questions for me! I have every reason to walk humbly. Humility and thanksgiving should be hallmarks of my life. Serving others with the gifts I have received from God gives purpose to my days. And I should make myself available to the gifts God has given to others.
Humility is important for passing along what God has given me AND for receiving from others what God has given them. Humility is the grace that greases the exchange. When I am humble, people more readily receive what I have. When I am humble, I more readily receive what they have.
Thanksgiving is a way of honoring God for His gifts. It honors Him as the source of the gifts. It moves any focus from me to the ONE who deserves all honor and praise.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, it is for me to walk humbly before you and humbly within the body of Christ. Help me dispense your gifts in a way that is easy for people to receive. Bless others with the gifts you have placed in me. Bless me with the gifts you have placed in others. Amen
Pastor Leon
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