Are We Obscuring Their View?

I Corinthians 3:5-6 "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow."

I would surmise that as humans, we work overtime seeking to get noticed without even realizing what we are doing. We want others to see that we are strong, self sufficient, educated, gifted, important or competent; however, as Christians, it is not important what others see in us. The only thing that matters is that people see Jesus in us! Sadly, our impressive gifts and accomplishments often obscure the view.

For our faith to be genuine, He must increase, and I must decrease (John 3:30). Jesus should become greater and more visible and the servant should become less and less visible. Less of me and more of Him should be our mantra and should be a pattern we follow. We should forget ourselves, our likes, dislikes, abilities, strengths, our needs, our free time, and even our ambitions to focus on the other person and their need for a Savior.

In this scripture Paul is trying to help the Corinthian people to understand that their faith should not be in anyone other than Jesus Christ. Paul and Apollos were but mere servants of the gospel, agents through which God would use to make His plans come to fruition. Their human insufficiency was the platform through which God's sufficiency could be at work. AW Pink said, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a godly thought, how much less can we perform a good deed." All that is good in us is but a stream of grace lavished upon us by our King. We are merely agents, instruments, or clay pots in the hand of God to use for His glory. He desires our availability not our ability.

All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on Him made possible the unique display of His power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources. (Oswald Chambers)

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Dear Lord,

Help me to overcome my need to be recognized and valued by others. I pray that I would set myself aside while I am with others just to listen and allow You to show through me at all times. I know that You love me and that in itself is enough to feed my longing for approval. Apart from You I am nothing but I want to make myself available if You need me in accomplishing Your plans. Use me however and whenever for Your glory!

In Jesus Name,

Amen