1 Corinthians 4:10-13 (NLT)
Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. [11] Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don't have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. [12] We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. [13] We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like everybody's trash-right up to the present moment.

- This is a sobering passage. It reveals how little some things about the church have changed in two thousand years. Today we still see some very humble Christlike people faithfully serving God, often laboring quietly away in missions of one sort or another or some small local church - perhaps in a foreign land or maybe right downtown, demonstrating Jesus' love by serving the needy, hurting and confused people of the world.

In contrast we also see many who are considered movers and shakers in the church and in the world, who live high on the hog, make grand pronouncements "from on high" about how others should live, and generally wrap themselves in the finest that this life has to offer. They talk about how all their wealth is a blessing, justfying their own greed and self-interest, and if they were to read this assessment, they would think it refers to someone else.


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