17TH APRIL
1 Corinthians 9:1-23
“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? …Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? …Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.… For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.… I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Living with the mindset that my life is about my sentness takes me, my rights, my freedoms out of the centre of the focus of my life and puts the gospel and its impact on those around me into the centre focus of my life!
Read the passage again and underline the times Paul talks about his rights and freedoms, then note his attitude towards these rights and freedoms now that he is living as a sent one. Paul will give up almost anything in order to lead someone into a saving relationship with Jesus.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
What can you give up in order to make more time for the things that matter in life?