READING: Isaiah 49:14-53:12, 1 Thessalonians 1-2
I love leading God’s people and preaching God’s Word. The privilege is great, and the blessings are many—even when ministry is hard. I’m forever grateful that God chose to call me to ministry when I was a 13-year-old new believer. At the same time, though, I recognize my sinfulness and must admit that my heart is probably not always right as I serve God and His people. Sometimes, I let arrogance grab my heart. At times, I think about climbing the ladder in a church or in my denomination. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m also sometimes greedy for dollars or the applause of men. Daily, I must check my heart.
That’s why I’m so captured by Paul’s words to the Thessalonians as he described the way he and his missionary team walked before them: “. . . just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness— and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others” (1 Thess 2:4-6). In fact, Paul went on to say about himself and his team, “You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers” (1 Thess 2:10). Nothing in the text or in Paul’s life as we know it suggests that he was speaking anything less than truth with these words—and he even called on God as a witness to these truths. The standard Paul and his team set is indeed a high one.
May God help us to walk this way and lead others to do the same.
PRAYER: “Lord, let me live this way.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Isaiah 54-57, 1 Thessalonians 3-4