What Do You Have?

August 21, 2022

Think about it, what do you have that you did not receive? Have you gotten anything on your own? Really! Our genetics, our environment, our nurture, and our nature have all been given to us. We think in the way we have been taught - as tragic as that is, because not all have listened to the Word of the Lord. Some like Adam and Eve stopped learning and listening to God and began to listen to self and Satan. They as a result experience loathing of self and others. They have received hate instead of the love of God. Poor choice! It is far better to “be fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Corinthians 4:10), to be humble rather than self-exalting. We cannot live effectively with pride of possession. Such arrogance is divisive and makes the church ineffective. If Christ and the apostles exemplified service and humility, what should you and I do? Should we acknowledge that our giftedness is due to God’s grace and make sure that we glorify him by exalting one another? Is that not why we were placed in the body and was not that why Jesus gave us the example and command (washing the apostle’s feet), “Go thou and do likewise”. He lived the grace of God and never claimed any power without openly declaring its source (John 11). He pointedly prayed to his Father out loud so that others would know the source of his power and charisma. Should we also humble ourselves (Philippians 2) and get away from the destructive pride of possession? What created strife in the Corinthian church was the fact that some glorified themselves by tongues, by who it was who baptized them, and even their adherence to Christ. They were self-righteous instead of glorifying in the grace of God they glorified in the choices they had made. Self was the center and circumference of their thought process. You and I would never do that, or would we?

Dr. Kenneth E. Morrison