Sunday, April 6 ~ Bringing the Gospel Into the Body

~~I Corinthians
4:14-17
I am not writing this to you to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

~~Of all his congregations, the Church at Corinth gave Paul the most grief. There were competitions and conflicts among the people which were just plain childish. Most recently they had been playing favorites among the apostles and preachers. At last Paul contrasts the comfortable, complacent lot of the Corinthians with the austere and dangerous conditions endured by the apostles, himself in particular.
He assures them that he really is not trying to shame them or make them feel bad, but rather, as their father in the faith, was trying to help them see how blessed they are. With the compassion of a father, he wants to help them grow up into faithful and responsible followers of Christ.
Paul urges them to be imitators of himself. On the surface, that seems like an arrogant thing to say. But the best parental nurture is teaching by example.
I once was called to a home where an early teenage daughter had run away. The distraught parents had no idea where she had gone or with whom. The father kept saying, as though it was the greatest parental wisdom, “I’ve always told her, ‘Do as I say and not as I do.’”
As parents nurturing their children or adults guiding those young in the faith, the very best we can do is to influence by our own example of faithfulness.
Gracious God, who has given us the perfect example of your love in Jesus Christ, help me lead a life of devotion and faithfulness which will be a positive example for others. Amen.
Henry Hanna