1 Corinthians 4

4:2 - Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. - What trust have you been given? Some of you have been entrusted with a church, others with a family and some with wealth. Some of you have been entrusted with a leadership position, others with a skill or ability and others with a quality or characteristic. God expects all of us to use what we have been given for His purpose and His glory. One day we will be asked what we did with what God entrusted to us. what did you do with my church? What did you do with the influence I gave you? what did you do with the money I entrusted to you each month? What did you do with your family or your artistic ability or your compassion? Each one of us needs to live so that we have a ready and good answer.

4:4 - My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. - I find it frustrating how many people today believe that because they feel innocent they must be innocent. God is the judge and we would be wise to let Him tell us whether we are innocent of guilty. The problem for most of us is we are outside of conviction because we have convinced ourselves that what we feel is the truth. It may be that we are walking in disobedience and sin, but don't feel it. Go to God and ask Him if you are walking as righteously as you feel you are.

4:5 - Jesus will one day expose the motives of people's hearts. - Does that excite you or scare you to death? That might tell you something.

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?

4:12-13 - We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world - right up to this moment. - This is a great job description of a Christian leader. The one that stands out to me the most this morning is the slander one. When someone at work slanders you do you respond kindly or do you fight back? A godly leader answers slander with kindness.

4:20 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. - YES!!! This is something God has really been working on me about lately. The kingdom of God is about His power being seen in the lives of people and not just studying or preaching or singing. It is about His Spirit moving in ways that are impossible. It is about instantaneous change and not gradual change. It is about instant healing and not just healing through doctors. It is about instant provision and not just a better job. We have nullified the possibility of the miraculous by settling for what the world offers instead. We no longer beg for instant healing instead we ask God to use the doctors. I am all for doctors, but why not ask the Great Physician first? We need to get back to the place where we expect the Spirit of God to do incredible things and quit just talking about it.

Love, Michael