Fools for Christ

Day 220: 1 Corinthians 4:1-21

“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Paul gives the Church in Corinth his job description, and it was sure to get their attention:

Fools.

Weak.

Laughed at.

Hungry and thirsty.

Without clothes.

Beaten.

Homeless.

Scum.

Trash.

If someone handed you this list right before you confessed Christ as your Lord and Savior, would you have still gone through with your baptism?

Most of us would have hesitated for the same reason we would hesitate if we were offered a job with this description. This is a list that we do everything in our power to avoid for our families and us. Yet if we have a taste of any of them on this list, we immediately realize our need for more than this world has to offer.

Richard Pratt says it so well, “If the Corinthians wanted true strength, wisdom, and honor, they would have to seek it by being weak, foolish, and dishonored like Paul.”

John, in the last book of the Bible, writes, “You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” - Revelation 3:17 ESV

Even if we gain the complete array of influence and affluence this world has to offer, we will not have what we need most to prepare us for eternity: Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As Paul wrote at the beginning of our reading today, we are to be counted as "servants of Christ." It is the greatest privilege we will ever have.