MY HUMBLE OPINION

For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Corinthians 4:4, ESV)

Oh, how I wish I knew what was coming!

Far too often, I have put together a good round of golf only to see it crumble in the last few holes. If only I knew this was going to happen, I would not let those early pars lure me into false expectation. I could simply keep telling myself, "You're going to shoot 85. I know it looks like 75 right now, but you just hang in there. Sooner or later, you'll give all these shots back." Come to think of it, maybe telling myself that anyway would take a load of pressure off, and I'd cruise right on through to that 75!

I guess what I am asking for is some proper humility and a few good results to come from it.

Paul demonstrated just such humility when he wrote to the Corinthians about his ministry as an apostle. He even laid out the definition of an apostle: "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). Paul was commending his ministry to the people, but far more than that he was commending the One he was ministering and preaching: Jesus Christ.

And here is the biggie: By putting Christ in front of them all, Paul was maintaining his humility. He was bold enough to say that he knew of no evidence that would condemn him and the work he was doing. There is no pride in that statement. In many other places, Paul spoke of his sordid past, even calling himself "chief among sinners." Yet before Christ now, with his past sins forgiven, Paul was asserting that his life and his conscience were clean. But he was asserting this humbly.

Why?

Paul dared not tread into God's own territory. The apostle knew that God alone could judge the fullness of our character and the depths of our hearts. We may think ourselves quite innocent, but we can never truly assert that full extent, because sin—including the sin within us—is ever deceitful. It will not let us see what God sees.

None of this is to say that we can undo the work of Christ in us. Paul would not go this far! When our hearts our His, our eternal lives our His. But even when our hearts are His, our actions are not always so, and our thoughts about those actions are still being transformed.

So we let the Savior do the saving and we let the Judge do the judging. Meanwhile, we live in full humility under His covering, knowing that He knows what we do not, and that He redeems even the sins that do not to our knowledge convict us.

--

Jeff Hopper

November 20, 2008

Copyright 2008 Links Players International

The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.