I Cor 4: Recruiting Poster for Christian Leadership

What it's like to lead as Christ led

"We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 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; ¹³ when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment."

Only a fool would choose to live like that. Oh wait - that's what Paul says he is, a fool for Christ. I don't want that life. I would never choose to live it. But I hope I would "allow" God to grasp me and choose it for me, trusting in grace. And if I sweat great drops of blood along the way, well..... I'm in good company.

I suppose the real challenge is not seeing the divine grasping in black and white, either Prosperity or Suffering, but instead saying yes to all of the ingredients in the mixed bowl He is intent on pouring out as a sacrifice to Him and for others.

Big holy talk for a whiner!