ESOCS Devotional 21 January 2023
TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 9: 15-27
MEMORY VERSE: “Among the weak in faith I became weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I became all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible. All this I do for the people’s sake, in order to share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 GNB
God’s blessings are abundantly available to everyone. Unfortunately, not everyone knows about this. More so, these blessings are both material and spiritual. The responsibility of bringing the knowledge of this good news falls on the minister who is duty bound to spread the gospel to all people the world over.
God promises to pour out these blessings on the people – both material and spiritual. But it is advisable to focus more on the spiritual than to lay overemphasis on the material aspects. In other words, spiritual blessings are far superior and more enduring than material blessings. For instance, though Abraham was a very wealthy man of God, the blessing God promised him (Galatians 3:14) that counted most was his justification through faith.
In verse 19 of our text, Saint Paul emphasizes how necessity is laid upon him to bring this knowledge to the uninformed through voluntary evangelical outreaches – without charge to the people. It follows therefore that sincere evangelists should go ahead to preach the gospel, regardless of whether they receive any support from the church or not. The message of the gospel should be as fire in their bones that they must preach in order to experience peace (Jeremiah 20:9). The motivation of the dedicated preacher is that he must preach because of the gratitude in his heart for his own salvation, and not for material rewards. (1 Corinthians 15:10). Any other motive for preaching will be contrary to divine intentions, which may bring eternal curses (Jude 11).
In verses 10-23 of our text, Saint Paul declares that he became everything to every class of people. That is to say, he adapted himself everywhere he went, in order to communicate freely the gospel to people of diverse cultures and social backgrounds. He willingly gave up his own customs in order to relate with even foreigners.
As true evangelists and teachers of God’s word, we must learn to adapt to every situation and condition in order to successfully bring men and women to Christ.
- You live in a community of other religious adherents. Do you hide your Bible and worship in secret, or do what?
- Lord Jesus, give me the grace and wisdom of adaptation like Apostle Paul did.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 48:1-11; Amos 3:1-8; Luke 7:36-50
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
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ESOCS Devotional 21 January 2023
