March 8 – The Comparison – 1 Cor 4:11-12
11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
Paul continues his comparison between themselves and the so-called elite of the faith. Paul says that even as he writes this letter they dealt with hunger and thirst. They live by faith and sometimes the price is not enough to live on. He then relates that they live in rags because they are sacrificing for the gospel. Quite a contrast with the prosperity preaching we see today. The early church fathers were brutally treated. They were sharing the gospel in a brutal, cruel, and barbaric time. At time they were even homeless. It was nt unusual for the early pioneers of the faith the travel and camp out as to say. Jesus was often on the road and slept under the stars.
The apostles and early preachers of the gospel were bi-vocational and did whatever they could to make ends meet. They also practiced the Sermon on the Mount instructions. When they were cursed, they blessed and when they were persecuted, they endured it. They knew that this earth was not their home and was not worthy of them. They were like Abraham looking for a city whose maker and builder was God. This should be our approach to our world today. It is not time to assert rights but to take the path of righteousness and keep our eyes on the Lord especially in the light of eternity.
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