Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule: Job 8-10; 1 Corinthians 4
Devotional Thought:
It is the habit of man to compare people to each other. We rank pastors according to the size of their congregations, number of books they have written, or the size of the conferences at which they speak. We compare businessmen by the size of their house, the name on their suits, and the car that they drive. We often compare neighbors by the condition of their lawn, condition of their driveway, and the uniqueness of their mailbox. We compare church members to the number of services they attend, the place they sit in the church, and the number of ministries in which they serve. Paul tells the Corinthian church that this type of comparing creates competition. He will later tell them “this is not good.” Paul counsels this church to focus on Christ, not on personalities in the church. “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.” (vs. 3) Paul says it matters very little to me that you would compare me to other men; in fact, I don’t even compare myself to other men. The standard is Christ! Verse one states that preachers are simply servants of Christ who have been given a stewardship to teach accurately the mysteries of God. We have all been given a stewardship in the role Christ has placed us to serve. We will be judged according to that responsibility. God will never judge me regarding how my job compared to someone else’s, or the impact I made compared to someone else. God will judge me according to my faithfulness regarding the things entrusted to me, and how I used them to bring glory to God. I know I will stand before God for my faithfulness to Him as a husband, dad, pastor, friend, Christian, etc. I do not need to be a better husband than any other husband, I need to be the husband to my sweet wife that God asks me to be. I do not need to look at other husbands to see how I am doing; I must look to God’s Word and see how I am doing. Church members need to stop looking at other church members and start looking at the Word of God. What a difference this small step of maturity would make in churches, homes, and families.
Personal Requests:
• Lord, please help me to never compare people with people. Please give me the wisdom to love people right where they are and help them to become what you would like them to be.
• Lord, I have so much growing to do. I greatly desire to be a better husband, dad, son, pastor, friend, and Christian. I ask you to help me keep focused on what your word says so that I may grow in grace and be found faithful with these special stewardships.
• Lord, please help me never to compete with any other person. May I simply learn to live, yielded completely to the Holy Spirit of God.