1 Corinthians 4

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I read this amazing chapter that spoke to me so much -1 Corinthians 4. It talked about so many things and brought it all together in one chapter. First off it talked about judgement. This has always been har for me because often I find myself talking poorly about people who have lower morals and standards than I do. It just slips out of my mouth and i realize how judgmental I am being, sometimes I try to justify it but clearly that is useless. In verses 3-5 it talks about being judged. It goes both ways for the people doing the judgement and the people being judged. It says how we shouldn't care what other people of earth have to say about us- and how we should not even judge ourselves. It is the responsibility of God and Him alone to make judgements on our character because he is the only one who can see it fully and know our true hearts. "He will bring to light what is in darkness and expose the motives of men's hearts. Also right after that it says "at this time each will receive his praise from God." This part kind of throws me back because it's hard to believe that God would praise us. That is yet another example of his amazing love for us. As christians, obviously we have it rooted into our brain not to pass judgement on others but that is the hardest thing for me to avoid. Whenever I am feeling down on myself I always remind myself that God made me exactly how he wanted and I receive peace from that but I don't always apply that to other people. It's hard to stop in the middle of an annoying encounter with someone and think wow, God made this person with the same care that he created me, and the people I love. I am learning, slowly, how to love people well, like Jesus did.

The main reason that we judge other people is because they are not like us and honestly it's because we think we are better than they are. "For what makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did not receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" If we remember this then we can eliminate the source and need for our judgement. This verse, to me, is kind of a reality check. It reenforces the idea that nothing we have is truly ours. ALL of the things in our life come from God. I just think about God sitting up in heaven and creating me and deciding what family to put me in, obviously nothing he does is by accident but I just think that with the flip of a coin I could have so easily ended up in a whole other life. When he is asking what do we have that we did not receive he is saying that God allows us to have everything that we do, it all comes from him so we have no right to brag about it because it is not really ours. Recently, I heard someone say that nobody is more blessed than anyone else which I think proves to be very true when you think about it. A lot of times people who talk about their fabulous lives and say well I was very blessed with a wealthy family or a great education or whatever else but that doesn't mean they were more blessed than anyone else. Is this making sense? Obviously God wanted them to have an easy lifestyle but he can also bless people with a hard life. A life that is constantly falling apart, a life of sickness, homelessness, abuse, failure, just to name a few examples. People who face these trials often come out stronger on the end- just as we learned in James. This just goes to show that everything comes from Him and we are no better than anyone else. With that, it becomes easier to see how judging others does not make the most amount of sense.

There is a lot of other great points in this chapter but I'm going to skip a few verses to the part that might just speak to me the most. "The kingdoms of God is not a matter of talk but of power" this just really makes Gods kingdom seem real. It's not just something we talk about and dream about but the reason that God is so mighty is because he has all the power. Nobody can rule over him. I am trying to put into words what this verse makes me feel but I don't think I can actually describe it. It mostly leaves me feeing awestruck by his reality and power. I imagine all the successful people in the world and I think of everything they can do and have done and the effect they made on our lives and to think that Gods power is not even comparable is amazing, and to know that he is on our side of our day-to-day battles makes it so much sweeter.

God, I thank you for my life and how you have blessed me. I pray that you give me humility and the desire to love people more like your son. Take away my desire to judge others and help us to see the way you are working in their life rather then focus on the negative things. I thank you for the love that you give me and the way that you fill me up. Give me the motivation to stay rooted in your word and to search for truth rather then listening to the crowd. I thank you for the community of this blog and the ability to post freely and talk about your beauty. You are so faithful, God.

Amen.