Thinking I Am Something - 1 Cor 3:5-8

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Just servants through whom you believed [in Christ], even as the Lord appointed to each his task. I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth. So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one [in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose]; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.—1 Cor 3:5-8 AMP

I don’t know about you, but I need a good portion of 1 Corinthians 3 written out where I can see it every day. Without God’s word, which brings the sobering truth to my heart, my thoughts can go awry.  I can begin to think of myself more highly than I ought to think...never ever good.  Oh Father...keep me from the folly of me.  Of thinking I am something.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.—Romans 12:3

As servants we serve...we do what God tells us to do using the gifts He has graciously given us.  Some of us preach...some of us encourage and exhort and some of us pray, but the actual work of salvation can only be done by God.  I thank God for that.  What a relief to my heart. I am not in charge, and I am not in control.  The results of my work are not up to me.  Each of us as God’s servants are on the same team working toward the same goal and each of us will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

 I can stop striving.  I can stop looking at what others may or may not be accomplishing.  I can stop comparing myself with others...which ends in me either feeling lifted up and prideful or condemned.  I am His maidservant.  I keep my eyes on Him rejoicing to do whatever tasks He has for me, trusting that my work in Him is not in vain.  Whatever “I” may accomplish is, as Paul said, only by His grace...the undeserved ability that comes from God to do the work that He called me to do.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.—1 Corinthians 15:57-58