What do you think of yourself?

Having a wholesome self-awareness and good emotional intelligence are keys to the Christian life that are often overlooked.

These next few verses have themselves been abused by people who never want to be held accountable, ignoring the wisdom of peers and being above correction. We need to win what Paul says back into what actually is best practice.

“This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4 v 1-4)

Apollos, Cephas and Paul himself have been fought over as to who is the greatest leader. Paul now clearly lays out who he is, what he does and who he serves. In doing so he distances himself from his fans!

This is who I am: I am a servant. Paul uses a word for servant which was originally used as the rowers of the ships but those down in the lower deck, unseen but essential.

This is what I do: I am a guide to the gospel. The word Paul actually uses is ‘stewards’. Trusted with their master’s resources they are not free to live whatever life they want, they must be found faithful. Isn’t that different to the wisdom of the world? Find yourself popular, and successful, NO. Find yourself faithful. This blows aside all that many look for. God doesn’t look at any of the things that we think are important. He looks for faithfulness to the truth.

This is my focus: I am accountable to God. Here is where we have to be careful. Paul is not being arrogant. Instead he is saying human standards, whether praise of criticism, from others or even ourselves cannot be the final assessment on how well I have lived my life. They may be helpful but they don’t have the final word, God does.

Maybe today we can stop thinking of what people think of us. Are we so focused on the metrics of the world to see how our life is doing? Are we as concerned about our faithfulness to God? Are we being a good steward of what God has given to us? Are we willing to be unseen, to go to the lower deck and do essential work without the praise of anyone?