1 Corinthians 4:14-16

1 Corinthians 4:14-16

I write these things to you all not while shaming you all but as while advising you all as my beloved children concerning dangerous consequences.  For if you all should have innumerable guardians in Christ – but not many fathers – for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.  Therefore I appeal to you all, become imitators of me.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul talks about speaking to the Corinthians as beloved children.  He doesn’t want to shame them, but he does want to warn them.  He doesn’t want to severe the relationship, but he does want to honestly caution them about the direction they are heading.  This is true family at work.  It is never easy to have a difficult conversation.  But family has that conversation.  They don’t have the conversation to shame, embarrass or wound; they have that conversation to warn in love.

When have you had to have a difficult conversation?  What has been the fruit of that conversation?  How can the fruit often speak to the motivation for the conversation regarding the desire to shame or embarrass or warn in love?

Second Thought:

Paul calls himself the spiritual father of the Corinthian people.  He says that they have innumerable guardians.  These innumerable guardians are the spiritual people around them who are walking down the same road with them.  These are the people who are walking with them in the same general direction: towards Christ.  But Paul says that we as human beings don’t have many spiritual fathers.  A spiritual parent is someone who teaches you faith.  They don’t just encourage you and exhort you and help you stay on the path.  A spiritual parent is the person who helps you discover the next part of the path.  They walk ahead of you and call you along.  They help you grow.  They may even plan your growth with you.  We all have many guardians who do walk the road with us.  But I think in modern culture we’ve done exactly what the Corinthians have done.  We have lost sight of our spiritual parents.  Or perhaps we have become convinced that we can parent ourselves.

Who is/are your spiritual parent(s)?  Why is there a temptation to think we can parent ourselves?  What is the danger of not having a spiritual parent?

Third Thought:

Paul gives the Corinthians a command after speaking about spiritual parenting.  Having called himself their spiritual parent, Paul tells them to imitate himself.  But remember something.  What did Paul tell us in the verses for yesterday about his life?  Fool.  Weakling.  Disrepute.  Hunger.  Thirst.  Less-than-average clothing.  Physically beaten.  No place to live.  Hard work requiring physical expenditure of effort.  He’s telling them to pursue those things.  Well, to be honest, he’s not telling them to pursue these things as much as he’s telling them that in pursuing Christ these things will come.  As we draw closer to Christ, it becomes easier to accept the world’s opinion when they think these things of us.

Do you imitate?  Who?  In what specific ways do you imitate Christ?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 4:17-21