Message Matters More
16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Everybody needs a reality check on their priorities from time to time. The tides of life that push and pull us often take us off course and it's not until we lift our heads up to the horizon that we notice that the shore line looks very different from the where we first started. Today's scripture has a way of reorienting us back to Jesus, and back to the priorities of those who follow Him.
File this devotion into the "Easier said than done" folder.
The message matters more...
It matters more than any rights I may claim and more than my personal preferences.
The apostle Paul was an educated Jew, Roman citizen, and preacher of the good news. All things that he could have leveraged for his own benefit. He could have Lorded it over people for influence or demanded payments for his preaching. He had rights...but he chose not to exercise them in a self-serving way, instead, he refused them for the sake of the Gospel. So that people could freely receive the message of hope that God had for them.
He was all things to all people.
A Jew to the Jew's, a Gentile to Gentiles, and weak to the weak. Why? So that he might recruit more people to the Kingdom of God. He was willing to become whoever he needed to be in order to meet people where they were, not at the expense of the truth of Christ, but to accommodate them so that they could have a clearer path to the cross.
Paul laid down his rights and his preferences so that others could become right with God, because the message mattered more. He had his priorities straight, and it's a plumb line for all of us who follow the risen Lord.
The message matters more.
-Pastor Mitch
File this devotion into the "Easier said than done" folder.
The message matters more...
It matters more than any rights I may claim and more than my personal preferences.
The apostle Paul was an educated Jew, Roman citizen, and preacher of the good news. All things that he could have leveraged for his own benefit. He could have Lorded it over people for influence or demanded payments for his preaching. He had rights...but he chose not to exercise them in a self-serving way, instead, he refused them for the sake of the Gospel. So that people could freely receive the message of hope that God had for them.
He was all things to all people.
A Jew to the Jew's, a Gentile to Gentiles, and weak to the weak. Why? So that he might recruit more people to the Kingdom of God. He was willing to become whoever he needed to be in order to meet people where they were, not at the expense of the truth of Christ, but to accommodate them so that they could have a clearer path to the cross.
Paul laid down his rights and his preferences so that others could become right with God, because the message mattered more. He had his priorities straight, and it's a plumb line for all of us who follow the risen Lord.
The message matters more.
-Pastor Mitch
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