Living Free Comes at a Cost

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. 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. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23 ESV)

Paul understood something that I think we often forget; he was not saved for his own benefit but to serve God. You see he was zealous for God before he met Jesus. When Jesus brought him to his knees he finally really understood what God had been preparing him for. All the years of training and serving in and around the temple learning all the scriptures, the zeal for God and the determination to serve him was all in preparation for the future.

That is us today as Christians. God has brought us to this place with our wide variety of experiences so that when people we meet have a need we are prepared to witness to them about the difference a life in Christ can make.

Paul never really forgot what he had been saved from or the purpose he had been given. He did learn though to reach the lost he would have to continue living and working among them. Yes he gathered with those who were saved and taught them but he never forgot those who were once just like him and needed to hear the good news.

Verse 21 makes a statement that we must apply; we are as born again believers no longer under the law of God but we are called to live under the law of Christ. Christ gave us two clear commandments that were to love God with all your heart and the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. How many of us are able to say we can live under those two laws?

Paul lived a life loving people and he did it by becoming involved with them no matter what situation they were in. Can we as Christians today say that we love God and others enough to go were the needs are?

I pray you have a truly blessed day as you walk in the light of God’s Word. —Rev Brian Mathis